Dear members of the press. Below you can find our press-release regarding our Portimao race in January, including entry list and pictures. If you have any addicional question or better pictures or if you want to attend the event, just let us know.
Spanish Pro-Rally e Andrius Zemaitis wins GT4 South 2020 with Porsche Cayman
- Pole-positions were divided by the Germans cars. Audi R8 from Racing One and Porsche Cayman GT4 prepared by Pro-Rally.
- Sainteloc Racing through the duo Esteves/Saleilles manage 2 wins for the Audi
- Andrius Zemaitis and Spanish Team Pro-Rallye manages a win and is crowned GT4 South European Champion in a Cayman GT4
The second season of the GT4 South European Series finished this weekend in Portimão. In a troubled year, the GT4 South managed to finish the 2020 Season in January of 2021 with 9 GT4 cars in partnership with the GT Winter Series who brought 27 teams to the south of Portugal.
The Qualify started early Sunday morning and with a wet track besides the absence of the rain. On the GT4 class fitted with BOP, the Pole Position belonged to the impressive Audi R8 from Racing One with Christian Glsy showing great skills behind the wheel of the German GT car. On the second qualify session the track was drying and the Grid order always changing, lap after lap. In the end was Andrius Zematis with a Cayman GT4 prepared by the Spanish Squad Pro- Rally who pulled a fast lap right at the end and grabbed the Pole Position for Race 2.
After qualify, all is prepared to receive all the drivers and their teams. No public was allowed to enter the event, Medical center had COVID PCR tests to be made and strict distance between the teams was controlled.
Race 1
The first Race of the competition proudly supported by Ventilações Moura started around lunch time but the driver’s hunger was different and a thrilling race was witnessed with 3 different drivers topping the classification. The Audi from Racing One started well and dominated the first 5 laps. However, when the racing was entering its last 8 minutes, the leader clashed with a car from another class ended up losing 2 precious positions. The new leader was the Zamaitis Cayman. Who also got it his way was Cyril Saleilles with his Audi from Sainteloc. The French driver, used to the competitive FFSA GT4 was now second, following the Spanish Zemaitis. The French faced a fast drying track and tried to put some pressure on the Spaniard but ended up finishing 1,2 seconds behind the winner of the first race. The first GT4 win for the Pro-Rallye team Driver.
Race 2
For the second race was Zemaitis who started in front of the field. However with a mostly dry track and with racing Slicks fitted on the cars, Daniel Esteves putted his Audi R8 on the top spot of the classification, from lap one leading with a comfortable gap. Christian Gisy also took the opportunity on the first lap and managed to put himself on the intermediate spot of the podium leaving Zemaitis with a hard battle with a German KTM. The Spanish driver sponsored by the Marbella Porsche Center still managed third, enough to clinch the title with one race to spare.
Race 3
The last race of the weekend, as usual, is an Endurance race with 40 minutes and includes a driver change.
On the start was the Sainteloc Audi who took the advantage, building a gap for his direct opponents. The following laps we saw a battle between the French and Germans, the only similarity was their cars. Both teams took the Audi R8 to its paces. Christian Gisy managed to take the lead of the race on the fourth lap. This order held until the Safety Car came to play after a KTM Gt4 went off track and stopped in a dangerous position but without any major consequences. The Pit Window opened when the Safety car was still on track and the ones who took advantage of the situation were non others than Sainteloc and Pro-Rally. These two teams occupied the first two positions. The race was resumed with the Safety Car leaving the track and released the field to race pace once again. The duo Esteves/Saleilles from Saiteloc, Andrius Zemaitis and Christian Gisy took the first three positions and the final podium of the weekend was complete.
The GT4 South European Series finishes 2020 with the Spaniard Andrius Zemaitis in a Cayman GT4 prepared by Pro-Rallye following the steps of Portuguese drivers Francisco Abreu/Miguel Cristovão who won the 2019 title in an Mercedes-AMG GT4 prepared by Veloso Motorsport.
The 2020 season was an odd one. A key part of the sport was missed, the fans. Hopefully soon these thrilling races can be enjoyed by all once again. In the next days will be published soon regarding the 2021 Season.
