47 cars – GT Winter Series with record grid in Jerez

The GT Winter Series enters the race weekend in Jerez with a record field of entrants – no fewer than 47 GT cars have been entered for the third race weekend in Spain and will compete in spring-like weather conditions.

They are all chasing Dustin Blattner. After the two GT Winter Series race weekends in Portugal, the Manthey Racing driver travels to Jerez as the leader of the standings. The Porsche driver has scored 54.31 points so far. In second championship position is CV Performance driver Simon Connor Primm from the GT4 class. After a difficult race weekend in Estoril, the youngster is 11.8 points behind Blattner. Huber Racing driver Johannes Kapfinger completes the top 3 in the overall standings ahead of the third weekend.
At the race weekend in Jerez, Blattner, who competes under a US licence, can take another big step in the title fight.

Last year, the winding track in southern Spain already delivered exciting races in the GT Winter Series. At the penultimate race weekend of the 2021/2022 season, Michael Joos took his first overall victory in the GT Winter Series, and in the current season the Joos Sportwagentechnik team boss has already scored two more triumphs.

In Jerez, the GT Winter Series will once again feature an exciting line-up of drivers consisting of hungry young drivers, gentleman drivers and professional drivers who will be on duty as coaches. This colourful mix creates the special and relaxed atmosphere in the GT Winter Series, which is very much appreciated by the participants.

Exciting GT3 grid in Jerez

A total of ten GT3 cars will be on the grid in Jerez. Particularly exciting is the GT3 comeback of Liqui Moly Team Engstler, which will field an Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II. Audi Sport customer racing driver Luca Engstler will pilot the car. But Engstler will face top-class competition, with Mercedes ace Kenneth Heyer and DTM Trophy race winner Colin Caresani among the starters in Schnitzelalm Racing’s AMG GT3. Michael Joos and Klaus Horn will start in the Porsche 911 GT3 R from Joos Sportwagentechnik. The two drivers have good memories of the track in the south of Spain after their victory last year and they want to repeat their top results. Last year, Uwe Lauer and Francesco Lopez narrowly missed out on victory in the Endurance race in the Ferrari 488 GT3 from Die Biermacher Racing, with the Ferrari duo missing out on triumph by just over three seconds. With correspondingly good memories, the beer entrepreneur travels to Andalusia with his driver coach.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup promises spectacular motorsport

The class of the current Cup Porsches provided for highly exciting motorsport in the six rounds so far. On the GP circuit in Jerez, southern Spain, no less than eleven vehicles will be on the grid in this class and will ensure excitement. For example, championship leader Dustin Blattner will start in the “Porsche Racing Experience” car entered by Manthey Racing. In addition to Blattner, the traditional team from Meuspath is fielding two other cars for Tareq Mansour and Fuad Sawaya. Also competing in the Carrera Cup class is youngster Johannes Kapfinger. The young driver, who competes for the successful Huber Racing team, is in third position in the overall standings. In the six rounds of the season so far, Kapfinger has continued to improve and it is to be expected that he will be able to put Blattner under even more pressure. Excitement in the Cup 2 class is therefore guaranteed ahead of the GT Winter Series’ guest appearance in Jerez!
And the other teams are also bringing exciting and top-class drivers to the grid in the class. For example, Matteo Ferrer, who became champion in the FIA Masters Historic Formula One in 2019, will start for Phoenix Racing from Meuspath. And PTT Racing will also be worth watching out for: at the season opener in Portimao, the two Poles Igor Klaja and his coach Mateusz Lisowski won the Endurance race. A result that the two drivers would like to build on in Jerez!

Top-class GT4 grid in Jerez

The GT4 grid for the GT Winter Series in Jerez reads like a Who’s Who of German GT4 racing teams. With the CV Performance Group, BWT Mücke Motorsport, PROsport Racing and Schnitzelalm Racing, some of the most successful GT4 teams of recent years will start in the class. While CV Performance Group is fielding one Mercedes-AMG GT4, Schnitzelalm Racing is bringing two AMG cars to the start. Two Mercedes will also be entered by Peter Mücke’s team, which will also be using the predecessor model of the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Chris Esser’s ADAC GT4 Germany championship team is fielding several current Vantage GT4s. Gabriela Jilkova, who became GT Winter Series champion in 2021, will also form an all-women duo with Celia Martin at PROsport Racing. Reigning German GT4 champion Mike David Ortmann will also start for the experienced Aston Martin team from Meuspath.
Auto Lounge Racing from Sweden, which will enter two Audi cars, and the Bulgarian Porsche team Overdrive Racing complete the category, which is strong in terms of quality and quantity with twelve cars and thus gives rise to anticipation for the upcoming races.

Other Cup Classes promise exciting Motorsport

The other Cup classes also promise exciting motorsport in Jerez. In addition to the GT3 Audi, the Liqui Moly Team Engstler will also field a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo. None other than team owner and touring car legend Franz Engstler will be driving the Italian one-make cup racer. The JvO team of former DTM driver Jörg van Ommen will field three Ferraris in the Cup 1 class. The line-up of Ferrari 488 Challenge cars will be completed by Rossocorsa.

The Cup 3 class is for Porsche Cayman. Last year, the Caymans delivered thrilling and tough duels and multi-discipline battles on the circuit in Andalusia, which made the spectators in the well-filled grandstand jump up! Four Cayman will start in the class in Jerez. MS Racing will be competing with the two GT Winter Series perennials Andreas Greiling and Jens Richter. KKrämer Racing will also enter a Cayman. Karsten Krämer’s team was involved in last year’s tough and spectacular battles, which were, however, fought fairly at all times. Other cars will come from the Swedish WILECO team and the debutants from the 78Racing team. The Austrian team will also start with two Lamborghini in the Cup X category. All the conditions are thus in place for the exciting Cayman battles to be repeated this year.

Challenging course

The Jerez de la Fontera circuit hosted seven Formula 1 races between 1986 and 1997. In a memorable season finale in 1997, Michael Schumacher lost the title here and after ramming into his rival Jacques Villeneuve, the German was stripped of all his points for the season!
The track also became famous for the motorbike world championship. The MotoGP races on the circuit, which opened in 1985, have meanwhile acquired cult status.
The circuit is characterised above all by its large number of bends. The 4.428-kilometre race track is peppered with 13 bends, many of which are named after famous motorbike riders. The longest straight is just 600 metres long. This makes it all the more important for the pilots and teams that the vehicles are positioned correctly in the bends and do not lose any time there.

Already last year, numerous fans visited the GT Winter Series event in Jerez. In sunny weather, they enjoyed the spectacular races on the GP circuit. This year, too, perfect motorsport weather beckons, with up to 21 degrees and sunshine forecast for the two days of the event. This, combined with the largest grid in the history of the race series, is sure to attract many motorsport enthusiasts to the venue once again, especially as interested fans do not have to pay admission.

Three races in Jerez

“The rounds in Jerez are always special for us,” says GTWS Project Manager Robin Selbach. “Last year we experienced hard-fought and exciting races, which were nevertheless conducted fairly at every moment – this is what distinguishes the GT Winter Series! This year we are completely booked out with 47 entries. We are sure that we will again experience three races that we will be talking about for a long time.”

The debut of the Formula Winter Series, GEDLICH Racing’s newly founded racing series, which will be staging its first race weekend, will provide particular excitement in Jerez. International young talents and top-class teams promise exciting sport. More information about the formula racing series can be found on its website.

As usual, the GT Winter Series will complete three championship rounds on race Sunday. At 11:05 and at 14:00, the two sprint heats over 25 minutes will be recorded. At 16:55, the grand finale of the race event will start, the one-hour Endurance race, where the teams will have the opportunity to change drivers. Race day will open in the morning with a two-part qualifying session. On Saturday, the teams and drivers will have the opportunity to get to know the circuit in Jerez perfectly during extensive test drives.