Timo Scheider on pole at his GTWS debut in Portimao

Two exciting sessions
The two qualifying sessions for the GT Winter Series opener in Portimao have been run. With a strong field of 33 cars and well-known names, the Winter Series presents itself in the best weather.

Scheider on pole, but not the fastest among the GT3s
Ex-DTM ace Timo Scheider starts this weekend on the 10Q AMG GT3 and takes first position right from the start with a time of 1:42.072. Team-mate Stengel, on the other hand, fell well short of this fabulous time, placing P5 in his qualifying session. Behind Scheider with a gap of about half a second follows the Olimp Audi R8 LMS of Jedlinski and Basz, while the Black Falcon with amateur Axel Sartingen and Daniel Schwerfeld takes third place. Sartingen showed top form and stayed within touching distance of Schwerfeld’s lap time.
The fastest GT3 in terms of lap times, however, was Marcin Jedlinski on his Olimp Audi R8, who chiseled a solid 1:41.313 into the Algarve asphalt in Qualy 1.

Cup class puts the pedal to the metal
The question of whether the Cup Porsches would succeed in penetrating the GT3 phalanx was exciting from the start. Huber Motorsport succeeded in this feat, as Jakob Schell drove to P5 overall, leaving two GT3s behind him! Also remarkably fast were the combo of Tim Hendrikx and Simon Eibl, who in unison thrashed their 991.2 Cup Porsche to low 1:48 times, filling up the front row of the Cup grid.

Defending champions in front, but not quite at the top
Robert Haub and Gabriela Jilkova are the reigning champions of the GT Winter Series. They start in the team of DRAGO Racing Team ZvO with the AMG GT4. They shone as usual with great lap times, but had to admit defeat in both sessions to Theo Oeverhaus on the CV Performance AMG GT4, who produced 1:50 times like clockwork and took double pole in GT4.
Not to be sneezed at was the performance of Christian Gisy on the beautifully prepared racing one Aston Martin Vantage, who as an amateur gave the established drivers a run for their money, moving up to the first and second rows of the grid respectively.

BMW M2 and KTM Winter Cups start
In the BMW M2 CS Racing Winter Cup Marcel Marchewicz outclassed the competition, it can hardly be called otherwise. Almost three seconds faster than the runner-up, the BMW Spain car, is a real statement, as is the lap time of 1:54.435, with which he outstripped several cars in the nominally faster GT4 class.
In the KTM sport auto Winter Cup, Robert Schiftner clocked a respectable 1:56.263 on his Razoon Racing entered X-Bow R.

The first race starts at 11 a.m. local time (12 p.m. CET), with race 2 at 3:20 p.m. CET. From 5:40 p.m., there will be the 45-minute Endurance with mandatory pit stop.

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