The GT4 South European Series inaugural season will come to an end at the Autodromo do Estoril in Portugal.
THE THEATRE
The oldest purpose-built Portuguese track opened in June 1972 and was designed by Ayrton Lolô Cornelsen – who signed also the Jacarepaguá, Brazil, and Luanda, Angola, racetracks, among others – and will welcome next weekend the series supported by Betano.
During its long history, staged the Portuguese Formula 1 Grand Prix between 1984 and 1996, and many historic moments took place there, as the F1 title decision with the smallest margin – Niki Lauda was the 1984 World Champion with 0,5 points advantage to Alain Prost, although the Frenchman win in the race – or Ayrton Senna’s first win in the most important FIA category – 1985.
In the beginning of the century, it staged the FIA GT and racing machines as the Lister Storm, Chrysler Viper, Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello, or Ferrari 575 GTC Maranello got the honours in the 4,182 kilometres and eighteen corners circuit, allowing to the Portuguese fans to see exotic cars from the category greatest brands.
Later, the International GT Open kept the GT racing tradition in the “Autodromo” and now GT4 South European Series receive the baton to allow the Portuguese fans to watch great racing machines in action.
THE RACING
The on-track action will be intense. Miguel Cristóvão and Francisco Abreu effectively sealed the Pro-Am Cup title at Algarve with two race wins, but the Veloso Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 duo is willing to close the season with some more silverware.
However, Mariano Pires and César Machado will do everything to prevent their compatriots of repeating Algarve circuit double win.
This year’s leading actors of the competition supported by Betano, though, will have strong opposition from the GT4 European Series regulars Bullitt Racing Mercedes AMG GT4s. Stephen Patrick will line up alongside Andy Meyrick, a former Bentley factory driver, and Ian Loggie will share the duties once again with Callum McLeod, who has in his name European F3 Open and British Formula Ford titles.
The Am Cup crown is yet to be decided and will have as title contenders Francisco Carvalho and CO Jones. The Portuguese driver returns to the GT4 South European Series sharing a Porsche Cayman GT4 with Fábio Mota, who is doing his debut in the series. Carvalho has fifty points, thirty-six adrift from class leader CO Jones when there is fifty points to fight for.
In the GTC Cup, Marmaduke Hall and Edward Moore took the class honours in the previous event at Algarve, but the Tockwith Motorsport pair has been showing a strong pace during the season, battling with more recent machinery for the overall positions.
The British youngsters will have as class opponents the Plemar Sport’s Ginetta G50 GT4, and Jemma Moore, who will drive the second Tockwith Motorsport Ginetta G50 GT4 entry.
HOW TO WATCH
As usual, both races will be broadcasted live on the series’ social platforms – Facebook and Youtube. The first race will take place on Sunday, November 24th, at 9h55 (GMT) and the second at 16h20 (GMT) later in the day.
