December 22, 2025 | News | GT Winter Series
The Austrian-Lithuanian partnership will race a majority of the GT Winter Series calendar, with a view to starting the year trophy-hunting ahead of the 2026 ADAC GT Masters season. Both drivers spent a majority of 2025 racing in GT Masters in Engstler-run Lamborghinis, and will therefore expect to hit the ground running in Iberia.
Hütter, 18, has been working hard since the final 2025 chequered flag, building upon his physical and mental conditioning for racing, and forging new partnerships to benefit his racing future. This effort has most-recently materialised with the addition of Franz Tost. The fellow Austrian, who acted as Team Principal for the Formula One team now known as Racing Bulls from 2006-2023, will mentor Hütter throughout his 2026 racing campaign.
Tost, who guided the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen through the early stages of their Formula One careers, is regarded as one of the sport’s sharpest minds. Hütter said: “I can learn a lot from Franz because of his experience! It’s a great honour to receive tips from him.”
Jonas Karklys has a long-standing relationship with Team Engstler. Early on, it was perhaps adversarial, as the Lithuanian was one of the main thorns in the side of the Wiggensbach-based team in the latter years of ADAC TCR Germany. However, he has been part of Engstler’s GT Masters line-up since 2024. The 36-year-old racer splits his time between business and motorsport, and is best known as one of the co-founders of tech firm Nord Security. Karklys returns to the GT Winter Series after a successful, race-winning partial campaign in 2025 alongside Luca Engstler.
The 2026 GT Winter Series will begin at Portimão’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve from 15-18 January. The thrilling grid of GT2, GT3 and single-make GT cars will once again set pulses racing, and fans trackside can see the high-speed supercar duels from just €10 a weekend. Internationally, fans can subscribe to the Winter Series YouTube channel to see every moment of the action live-and-free.
15 JAN – 18 JAN PORTIMAO /P
22 JAN – 25 JAN ESTORIL /P
12 FEB – 15 FEB VALENCIA /E
5 MAR – 8 MAR ARAGÓN /E
12 MAR – 15 MAR BARCELONA /E
