The Portuguese duo consisting of Miguel Cristovao and Francisco Abreu was crowned Pro-Am class champion on home turf after a nearly perfect race weekend at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The Veloso Motorsport-entered Mercedes-AMG GT4 secured Pro-Am class honors in the inaugural 2019 GT4 South European Series season by virtue of its drivers’ faultless performance.
Similarly, Marmaduke Hall and Edward Moore brought GTC class title home with another weekend in dominating fashion. The Britons captured the title driving the highly-competitive Tockwith Motorsports-run Ginetta G50 GT4 in which they managed to fight with upper class cars throughout the season. No doubt it was a well-deserved achievement for the young pair of drivers.
Starting from pole-position César Machado, the ABM Grand Prix driver was overtaken by Bullitt Racing’s Andy Meyrick and Veloso Motorsport’s Francisco Abreu when the lights went green. He lost one more place to Bullitt Racing’s Callum Macleod. Unfortunately, Macleod was involved in an early race collision and was forced to retire, calling the Safety-Car in for a long period.
The drivers change happened during the Safety-Car period with Veloso Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG coming out of the pits in first followed by Meyrick’s teammate Stephen Pattrick and ABM Grand Prix’s Mariano Pires.
The Portuguese youngster momentarily managed to overtake the Mercedes-AMG of the British rival, but right after a wheel failure on his Ginetta G55 GT4 threw him out of the track.
Abreu’s teammate Cristovao had a quiet run in first place to notch up a well-deserved fifth victory of the season for the Portuguese duo, a result that allowed them to conquer the Pro-Am Cup title.
Pattrick e Meyrick, who were doing their championship debut this weekend at Portimão, came home second, repeating Saturday’s race one result.
Hall and Moore, who started on pole, had another dominant win in the GTC Class. The newly crowned champions managed to finish the race third overall when several front-runners hit trouble.
The second place battle came down to the wire after a thrilling late race battle between Tockwith Motorsports’ Moh Ritson e Sarah Moore and Plemar Sport’s Juan Reina e Alberto Valverde. Both Ginetta G50 GT4 exchanged positions several times during the 50-minute race with the young duo from Great Britain pulling away at the end of the race.
Freddie Hunt and CO Jones were forced to start from the pitlane, but it didn’t prevent the Team Virage pair to win the AM Class for the second time this weekend. Marcus Fothergill / Dave Benett (Porsche) and Jemma Moore / Callum Bradshaw (Ginetta) finished eighth and ninth overall.
Autódromo do Estoril hosts the final round of this year’s GT4 South European Series campaign on November 23/24.
Drivers Quotes:
Francisco Abreu (1st Pro-Am Cup): “That is a great feeling! The hard work we put together over the season paid off. It has been a big challenge, and we are all to be congratulated on it – the team, Miguel and I. That is my first GT title and I hope it opens a few doors in the future.”
Freddie Hunt (1st Am Cup): “It was a disappointing race because we had to start from the pitlane. We had to fight uphill struggle. We found it particularly difficult cause for some reason the lights inside the car was on. It was getting dark and dark, and I could see less and less. The car felt good, which was nice, and I could get some good laptimes.”
Marmaduke Hall (1st GTC): “This weekend has been exactly what we wanted to be. It was nice and safe; an uneventful race in the best kind of way. Two class wins, and win in the championship which is amazing. I have to thank my amazing team, who always put so much work over the season, my family and our sponsors. It has been an amazing racing series and a great season. I am looking forward to Estoril and enjoy a race weekend with no pressure.”
