The final practice session before qualifying for the Iberian Supercars and Supercars Jarama RACE at Circuit Ricardo Tormo is done, and the field is looking incredibly tight, with the top eleven cars separated by less than a second during free practice.
The competitiveness between different cars, teams, and drivers has been one of the defining characteristics of the season, resulting in thrilling races right down to the wire. After what we witnessed this morning, Valencia promises to deliver intense and hotly contested battles.
Roberto Faria, sharing the Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 with Francisco Cruz, set the pace late in the session, edging out Francisco Mora, who posted the fastest time in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 from Veloso Motorsport, which he shares with Miguel Lobo, by four-tenths of a second.
Following close behind were the BMW M4 GT4 of Nerea Martí and José de los Milagros, the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Jorge Rodrigues and Patrick Cunha, the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Stepan Suslov, and the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Alberto de Martín and Nil Montserrat, all separated by less than a tenth of a second.
These last three were the fastest in the GT4 Bronze class, showing that there will be plenty of competition for top grid spots during this afternoon’s qualifying.
Keith Gatehouse and Igor Sorokin had some bad luck yesterday, having to switch to the second Mercedes AMG GT4 from Team VRT after suffering engine problems in their car during yesterday’s testing. However, the NM Racing Team duo, who lead the GT4 Am points standings, adapted quickly to the new machine, topping their class with the 20th fastest time overall, narrowly beating Rúben Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende in the Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 by just two-tenths of a second.
Chefo Sport drivers put both of their Ligier JS2 Rs at the top of the GTX class, with José António Gomez and Manuel Cañizares leading by less than a tenth over Pere Marques and Mikkel Kristensen. But Andrius Zemaitis, driving a Speedy Motorsport-run Porsche 981 Cayman GT4, wasn’t far off either, finishing third, just six-tenths behind the division leaders.
Rui Miritta was in top form during today’s free practice, and despite missing yesterday’s tests, he managed to put the Monteiros Competição Porsche 911 at the top of the Cup class standings.
