The free practice session of the Iberian Supercars and Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade round at the Autódromo do Estoril took place this morning, giving signs of highly competitive qualifying sessions coming up this afternoon.
Indications from yesterday private sessions suggested that the battle for the top spots in all divisions would be fiercely contested, and this morning’s session confirmed that, with numerous cars vying for the lead, all with very close lap times.
Iberian duo César Machado and Jan Durán, in a Speedy Motorsport Toyota Supra GR GT4, were the fastest, but Guillermo Aso and Filip Vava, in an NM Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT4, were not far behind, as were Miguel Lobo and Francisco Mora, in a Veloso Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4. Half a second separated these three teams, demonstrating the competitive level of the field.
The best GT4 Bronze team, Jorge Rodrigues and Patrick Cunha in an Audi R8 LMS GT4, also lost less than a second to the fastest time. Veloso Motorsport drivers left Stepan Suslov in a Mirage Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 just two-tenths of a second behind, showing that the competition in this division will also be fierce.
The Nabais brothers, in the agile Speedy Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4, were the fastest among the GT4 Am competitors. Following closely were Smörg and Javier Macias in a Promotion Motorsport BMW M4 GT4, and Pedro Bastos Rezende and Rúben Vaquinhas in a Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
Daniel Teixeira used the session to test new settings in the JT59 Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR, using well-worn tires. His lap time of 1:53.151 is not representative of his potential, which is expected to place him in the top-15 overall.
Álvaro Vela and Sebastién Villadary took the exotic Chefo Sport Ligier JS2R to the top spot in the GTX class, outperforming the Speedy Motorsport-run Porsche Cayman MR driven by Andrius Zeimatis. Aubrey Hall and Henrique Cruz, in a Tockwith Motorsport Ginetta G55, were not far behind, with these three cars separated by less than a second, suggesting a highly competitive qualifying session in the GTX division as well.
Rui Miritta and series newcomer Tiago Gonçalves performed excellently in the Cup class in a Monteiros Competição Porsche 911, recording the seventeenth fastest time overall and being the best GTC on track. Marcus Fothergill and Dave Benett, in a similar Tockwith Motorsports car, lagged behind the Portuguese speaking duo but are expected to be competitive in qualifying.
The Araújo Competição Aston Martin Vantage GT4 No. 007, driven by Bruno Pereira and Gonçalo Araújo, will not take part in tomorrow’s races following an unfortunate incident during yesterday’s private tests
