GT Winter Series debuts in Valencia

With a total of 45 cars, the GT Winter Series is making its first guest appearance in Valencia.

At the fourth stop on the race calendar of the 2022/2023 GT Winter Series season, the racing series enters new territory, with GEDLICH Racing’s championship making its first guest appearance in Valencia.

Blattner arrives as championship leader

Manthey Racing driver Dustin Blattner continues to lead the overall championship, although Blattner, who competes under a US licence, was unable to score any points in the first round in Jerez due to an accident. The Cup 2 driver has an 11.09-point lead over Simon Connor Primm, who is competing in the CV Performance Group Mercedes-AMG GT4. Due to the five strike results that each driver has in the GT Winter Series, Blattner nevertheless travels to Valencia as a big championship favourite. On the world-famous MotoGP circuit, the Porsche driver can take another big step towards the championship. Jens Richter and Andreas Greiling, who dominate the Cup 3 class in their Porsche Cayman, are in third place in the championship.

Schnitzelalm Racing dominated in Jerez

A week ago, the third event in the current GT Winter Series season took place in Jerez. Schnitzelalm Racing dominated the race weekend in the south of Spain with their Mercedes-AMG GT3. GT3 debutant Colin Caresani was able to win the second sprint race before taking a superior victory in the Endurance race together with AMG ace Kenneth Heyer.

Premieres in the GT3 field

A BMW M4 GT3 will compete in the GT Winter Series for the first time in Valencia. The DTM championship team Schubert Motorsport will bring the car to the start. Darren Leung will pilot the Bavarian sports car on the Spanish circuit. In addition, PROsport Racing will enter a GT3 Aston Martin in the GT Winter Series for the first time. Maxime Dumarey and Jean Glorieux, who already know the Vantage from the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, will pilot the popular British car.
Schnitzelalm Racing driver Kenneth Heyer gets a new teammate at his side. Gentleman driver Axel Sartingen will pilot the winning car from Estoril and Jerez together with the AMG veteran. The driver duo of Thomas Angerer’s team thus also reflects the spirit of the racing series, in which gentleman drivers and established drivers compete together and are supported and coached by professional racing drivers. Audi driver Luca Engstler will also compete in the family team again in Valencia. After missing his debut victory in Jerez by less than 0.3 seconds, the youngster now wants to make up for it. He shares the Engstler team’s Audi with To Yip Wang from Malaysia.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup forms largest class

The class of the current Porsche Carrera Cup models has been delivering tough motorsport so far this season, but with fair means. Manthey Racing, the team of championship leader Dustin Blattner, will once again travel to the fourth race weekend with a large contingent. The legendary team from Meuspath will bring the two debutants Kevan Millstein and Nathan Schweigart to the start. Together with Blattner and Tareq Mansour, the team will thus field four cars. Before the event in Valencia, one should not underestimate the two Kapfinger brothers, Johannes and Michael, who have improved a lot during the season and have been able to put Blattner under more and more pressure. Most recently in Jerez, the Kapfingers even managed to take two class victories, although Michael – in contrast to the Manthey drivers and his brother – starts with a 991.2 generation car and not a 992.

GT4 class delivers spectacular motorsport

In Jerez, the GT4 category thrilled with duels that were fought bumper to bumper. The numerous fans on the grounds of the GP circuit cheered the duels in the “small” GT class. High voltage is promised again for the event in Valencia. After Simon Connor Primm and his co-driver Jan Philipp Springob had to endure a difficult weekend recently, they want to strike back at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. But the competition will not make it easy for the runners-up in the overall standings. PROsport Racing, for example, will be fielding three well-equipped Aston Martin Vantage GT4s. In addition, Schnitzelalm Racing and Overdrive Racing are two other strong teams with established GT4 drivers and hungry young drivers in the popular category.

FF Corse returns to Cup 1 class

Returning to the Cup 1 class of the Challenge Ferrari in Valencia is the British FF Corse squad, which put in a strong performance at Estoril. James Owen and Tom Fleming will drive the team’s two cars. The Brits will meet German touring car legend Franz Engstler, who will share his car with Alexander Nußbaumer. Engstler took an immediate class win on his debut in Jerez.

Exotic cars in Cup X

For the event in Valencia, the starting field in the Cup X class is growing. With Vincenzo Sospieri Racing and GT3 Poland, two teams are fielding their one-make cup cars from the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo in the GT Winter Series and are starting with top-class driver line-ups. The one-make cup teams will meet other Lamborghinis, an Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II entered by Konrad Motorsport and one of the spectacular KTM X-BOW GT2. Schnitzelalm Racing will also be fielding a 981-generation Porsche Cayman GT4 to replace the second Mercedes-AMG GT4 that crashed in Jerez.

Famous circuit

Opened in 1999, the Circuit Ricardo Tormo is one of the most famous race tracks in Spain. Since its opening, the MotoGP has been an annual guest on the 4.005-kilometre-long track, which is characterised by a long start-finish straight and an angular infield. Another special feature is that the track is driven anti-clockwise. But the circuit is also no stranger to GT racing. For example, the legendary FIA GT Championship was held here after the turn of the millennium, and the current GT World Challenge Europe will also be held here.

Perfect weather conditions await the participants at the fourth race weekend of the GT Winter Series. Bright sunshine and temperatures around 20°C are forecast for the event days – the perfect conditions for exciting motorsport in Cheste, a suburb of the Spanish metropolis Valencia. The main grandstand will be open for the fans and with the weather forecast, a lively attendance is expected.

Watch the races via stream

The GT Winter Series will broadcast the three races via livestream. Interested fans can tune in to the livestream on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. via YouTube or on the GT Winter Series website and follow the three scoring races. Lukas Gajewski and Adam Weller will accompany the livestream. The race day will be opened by a two-part qualifying session before the drivers can get to know the track in extensive practice sessions.

“We are very pleased that we will be able to broadcast the races via stream for the first time this season,” says GTWS project manager Robin Selbach.