Three teams share GT4 Winter Series spoils at eventful Portimao meeting

Three different winners won as many races in the GT4 Winter Series as Elite Motorsport’s domination came to an end in Portimao.

Elite’s GB3 graduate McKenzy Cresswell won the opening 30-minute sprint event on Saturday aboard the team’s McLaren Artura GT4, but team-mate Josh Rattican had to give second best to Jay Mo Hartling’s SR Motorsport Mercedes.

Cresswell and Rattican were in the mix again during the 60-minute pitstop race but after a spin contact while disputing the lead with Maximilian Schreyer, for which the W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman driver was penalised, dropped the duo behind the victorious RAFA Racing McLaren of Callum Davies and Charlie Hart.

Cresswell had a straightforward run to victory in the opener, seeing off Schreyer and then SR Motorsport’s Enrico Forderer when the Mercedes driver was penalised for earlier contact.

Benjamin Sylvestersson (FK Performance BMW M4 GT4) inherited second when Davies was penalised for track limits and was demoted to third.

The RAFA McLaren also lost out to a track limits penalty in race two, this time incurred by Hart, which handed third position to former World Touring Car Championship racer Peter Terting.

Hartling had moved ahead of Rattican before then passing Hart for the victory, with Rattican also moving ahead of the subsequently penalised McLaren driver.

But all came good for the RAFA squad in the third counter, Davies moving up to second after Schreyer rotated Cresswell and then taking the lead from he Porsche driver before handing over to Hart. After serving the penalty incurred by his team-mate, Alon Gabbay (in for Schreyer) recovered third on the final lap.

Porsche and Ferrari share GT Winter Series spoils

Keanu Al Azhari recovered from sixth position to win the opening GT Winter Series race aboard a Porsche 992 GT3 R entered by DTM title winning squad SSR Performance.

Making his debut in a GT3 car, the Emirati had set a time fast enough for pole that was deleted for not adhering to yellow flags, but made swift progress through the field and demoted leader SR Motorsport Mercedes driver Moritz Wiskirchen on the 30-minute sprint’s penultimate tour.

Danish teen Simon Birch’s Razoon – More than racing Porsche kept up the pressure on Al Azhari throughout race two, but could not prevent the SSR driver from doubling up.

But with Al Azhari withdrawn from the 55-minute pitstop race, staged following a deluge, the scene was set for a different winner and lots of action on the slippery track.

After taking over from Kenneth Heyer, Wiskirchen had established himself in a lead he looked set to hold to the flag until he unexpectedly pulled into the pits with one lap to go.

That elevated Le Mans stalwart Matt Griffin to the front of the pack in the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 Challenge car rotated on the opening lap by John Dhillon.

Fellow Ferrari drivers Sean Hudspeth/Rafael Duran and Mikkel Mac/Andreas Bogh Sorensen completed the rostrum.

Clean sweep for Soufi in Prototype Winter Series

Photo by: Daniel Burgin/Gedlich Racing

Konrad Motorsport driver Danny Soufi picked up where he left off at Estoril by dominating both Prototype Winter Series races.

He converted pole to win the opener comfortably, by 17s, despite a 30-second pitstop handicap. Laurents Hoerr and Jon Brownson’s DKR Engineering Duqueine beat CLX Motorsport Ligier pair David Droux and Quentin Joseph to second.

Poleman Hoerr led the early stages of race two, but the car refused to fire for Brownson in the pits – putting them out of contention.

Soufi rejoined third after his longer stop, but made his way into the lead with passes on Wolfgang Payr (Racing Experience Duqueine) and brief leader Joseph to preserve his 100% record this season.