March 11, 2025 | News
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya played host to the finale, and featured several additional line-ups on the grid. Team Virage welcomed a talented young pairing in the form of Geronimo Gomez and Daniel Nogales, while KC2 welcomed Jochen Schäfer for his first race in 11 years. The German driver was coached early in his career by Gedlich Racing founder Markus Gedlich.
Konrad Motorsport entered an additional Ligier JSP320 for Zino-Ferret Fahlke, who was making his debut in LMP3 racing.
Race 1:
Coming into the first race of the weekend, Danny Soufi had a strong hold on the Prototype Winter Series title. The championship battle was only to be extended to the second race of the weekend if CLX Motorsport’s Quentin Joseph and David Droux won the race, with Danny Soufi finishing at the back of the field or not finishing.
Danny Soufi started the race from pole position, alongside his Konrad teammate Zino-Ferret Fahlke. As the 50-minute +1 lap began, Danny Soufi eased into an early lead, and had put himself out of range for attacks from behind after the first sector.
Philip Lindberg of High Class Racing moved into second off the line, ahead of Fahlke. As the leader ran from the field, Lindberg, Fahlke and Team Virage’s Geronimo Gomez could be covered by a blanket in the battle for second. Gomez would begin to drop away after the early laps, while Fahlke applied increasing pressure to Lindberg.
Just as the pit window opened at the 20-minute mark, Fahlke had a great run out of the final corner. This – combined with the slipstream from Lindberg’s car – allowed Fahlke to fire past the Danish racer before the braking zone for turn one.
By the time Fahlke moved into second, Soufi was already over 25 seconds clear at the front. Shortly thereafter, Fahlke pitted. Unfortunately, after briefly stalling on the pit apron, Fahlke proceeded to cut the pit exit line. This led to a drive-through penalty for Konrad’s second car.
After the pitstop window and the handicap system slightly shuffled the deck, it was still Soufi leading. In second place, after a strong stint from Jon Brownson, was the DKR Duqueine of Laurents Hörr.
Before receiving the aforementioned drive-through penalty, Fahlke fought with CLX Motorsport’s David Droux and Team Virage’s Daniel Nogales over third. Nogales found his way past Fahlke after lapped traffic stalled the German’s momentum in the final corners, and this also allowed Droux to move past Fahlke at turn one.
Nogales was soon under fire from Droux, the holder of the fastest-ever LMP3 lap around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. And while Virage’s single-seater convert made a valiant effort, Droux ultimately moved into third with a move around the outside at turn one. That would prove to be the CLX team’s finishing position.
Second went to Laurents Hörr, who was 17 seconds behind the race winner. Danny Soufi crossed the line to win his sixth race from seven in the Prototype Winter Series, and with it, his second consecutive championship in the LMP3-led category.
Race 2:
With the pressure off, Danny Soufi could now enjoy Sunday morning’s race, albeit from fourth on the grid.
Racing Experience’s Matthias Bjerre Jakobsen started from pole position, after mastering tricky slippery conditions during the second qualifying session on Saturday. He shared the front row with Laurents Hörr. And, as the race began, wet tyres were the order of the day; the conditions would make the race even more challenging for the drivers.
DKR’s Hörr took the lead at the first turn with a committed late braking move around the outside. He did not find space on the outside, and was forced to rejoin the circuit at the turn three bollard, but he did so in the lead. Danny Soufi also moved past Jakobsen in the first corners, while David Droux immediately began applying pressure for third place.
Jakobsen was sure to make his Duqueine as wide as possible, and defended hard against Droux while staying in touch with Hörr and Soufi ahead. At the ten-minute mark, Droux finally found a way past Jakobsen, and was immediately on the case against Soufi for second.
Droux and Soufi’s battle briefly got physical at turn two, but a lap later, a clean move around the outside at turn one yielded second place for the CLX driver.
Droux, ever the man-on-a-mission, was not finished yet, and proceeded to close in on Laurents Hörr for the lead. And, as Hörr started to struggle with traction, Droux flew past around the outside at turn 12.
The pit window began as Droux moved into the lead. Danny Soufi immediately peeled in, while Droux, Hörr and Jakobsen. Unfortunately for the latter driver, he would make an error at turn five that brought out a full-course yellow. This paused and extended the pit window by four minutes, which both Droux and Horr decided to maximise, staying out as long as possible before handing over to their bronze-rated teammates.
However, this backfired; the window closed as they approached pit entry. Therefore, both CLX Motorsport and DKR Engineering were penalised for pitting outside of the window. The penalty was a 20-second stop-and-go. However, as this was applied just three laps from home, the punishment was converted to a 55-second post-race penalty.
On the final lap, Danny Soufi found his way to the lead on the road, and guided home a 1-2 for Konrad along with Zino-Ferret Fahlke. Philip Lindberg rounded out the podium after CLX Motorsport’s penalty was applied, and this demoted the Quentin Joseph/David Droux combo to fourth position. However, this was enough for the Swiss team to secure vice-champion status in the 2025 Prototype Winter Series.
For Danny Soufi, his first campaign of 2025 could scarcely have gone better. The American was on the podium for every race, and seven of the eight races ended with him crossing the line first. The combination of Soufi and Konrad Motorsport has matured and improved considerably since it began in 2022, and the team will now carry great momentum going into the summer.
2026 will be an exciting year of growth for all of the Winter Series categories. With V6-powered third-generation cars arriving on the LMP3 scene, the Prototype field will have a different flavour in years to come. However, GEDLICH Racing’s sportscar grid will continue to attract top teams and promote exciting racing in future seasons.
