January 20, 2026 | News | GT4 Winter Series
The 2026 GT4 Winter Series began with three races at the always-popular Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão.
A grid of 16 cars competed in the opening round, with compelling battles promised across the PRO, PRO-AM, AM and Club classes.
The first race of the weekend was held in mostly dry conditions, though some patches of damp tarmac remained from earlier showers. As the conditions had shifted significantly from qualifying, race control elected for a single-file start.
W&S Motorsport’s Tim Horrell had placed the #30 Porsche Cayman on pole position. For the bronze-rated driver in the PRO-AM entry, this was a searingly impressive achievement. In second position was Hugo Bac, at the wheel of the #17 Greystone GT McLaren Artura. The British team had worked on the car long into Friday night after a heavy accident in practice.
As the race began, third-place starter Lucas Cartelle perfectly timed his start in the #26 Speedy Motorsport Toyota. By the first corner, he had drawn up alongside Bac, and swept around the outside to immediately move into second place.
The Belgian driver was immediately on the back of race leader Horrell, capitalising on an apparent early tyre and brake temperature advantage. At Turn 7, Cartelle was able to find the inside line, and moved past Horrell to take the race lead within the opening lap, while Hugo Bac was also able to sneak up the Porsche’s inside.
Cartelle had a clear pace advantage, which left Bac to defend second place from Horrell, who was performing admirably against the PRO driver.
For much of the race, Horrell was evident in the McLaren’s mirrors. However, at two thirds distance, Horrell’s Porsche suffered a wishbone failure under braking at turn five, bringing his bid for an overall podium to a close.
The recovery of the W&S Motorsport entry required a Safety Car, which would ultimately conclude the race in favour of Lucas Cartelle. The Belgian’s triumph marked the first GT4 Winter Series victory for both Speedy Motorsport and the Toyota marque.
Hugo Bac finished second, while Ravi Ramyead secured third overall and PRO-AM victory. The L’Espace Bienvenue BMW driver was yet another Bronze-rated disruptor among the PROs, and was looking likely to join the second place battle before Horrell’s failure.
AM class honours went to Joachim Bölting, who had to work his way through the field after problems in qualifying. On the team’s GT racing debut, Zome Racing won the Club class for out-of-homologation GT4 cars, with Breno Arruda in a McLaren 570S.
For race two, the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche once again claimed pole position, this time in the hands of GT racing debutant Frederik Zebis.
The grid was presented with a conundrum, as the circuit was steadily drying after overnight rain; the grid was split on which tyres were suited to the conditions. A total of six drivers started the race on slicks, including second-place starter Hudson Schwartz in the #26 Speedy Motorsport Toyota.
And, while the slick shod runners would lose time on the first lap, it was clear that they had made the correct decision once the tyres were up to temperature.
As the ‘slick cars’ began dispatching those on wets, Hudson Schwartz found himself in the race lead. However, the American racer would be dealt a blow from race control. The decision to switch the Speedy Motorsport Toyota to slicks was a late one, and the car was on its air jacks too close to the start of the formation lap. As a result, a drive-through would have to be served.
Schwartz served the penalty with a dozen minutes left to go. Unfortunately, his time loss was then compounded on pit exit, as he asked too much of the slicks turning into the first corner on a damp patch, resulting in a spin. Ultimately, Schwartz found himself in eleventh position, but would recover to fifth before the chequered flag, despite a last-lap collision with lapped traffic.
Frederik Zebis’ potential for race victory quickly faded on wet tyres, and the W&S team ultimately elected to pull the GT racing debutant into the pits to switch to slicks.
This left Greystone GT’s Jayden Kelly at the front of the field. The Australian had also started the race on slicks, and flawlessly executed the 30-minute sprint to win by six seconds.
The overall runner-up spot and PRO-AM victory went to Charlie Robertson, scoring a second consecutive overall podium for the #71 L’Espace Bienvenue BMW squad. Joel Mesch took third overall, a strong performance in a back-up #11 SR Motorsport Mercedes, following engine problems for the originally-intended car.
Aleksandrs Bobrovs won the AM class, crediting his strong sixth overall to Team VRT’s decision to start the #18 Mercedes on slicks.
Mattis Pluschkell finished seventh overall in the #700 Mücke Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4. The German racer qualified a remarkable fourth place in the first-generation GT4 Vantage, but was hampered in the race by wet tyres. However, his performance was still enough for the Club class win.
The 60-minute pitstop race closed out the first GEDLICH Racing Winter Series weekend of 2026.
Tim Horrell would once again assume pole position in the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche, alongside Jayden Kelly in the Greystone GT McLaren.
Once again, the Bronze-rated driver’s grid position proved to be anything but a fluke, as he not only retained the lead but built a gap over Kelly, Robert Cronin, Charlie Robertson, and Hudson Schwartz. The quartet fought hard for the remaining podium places throughout the first stint, and while Cronin fell out of the top five from an early third place, Robertson ascended from fifth on the grid to second.
Tim Horrell handed the reins of the leading W&S Porsche over to Frederik Zebis at the first opportunity. However, at the conclusion of the pit window, the Dane found himself behind Lucas Cartelle, who benefitted from a fast end-of-stint from Hudson Schwartz.
Light damage on the Supra’s front bodywork was progressively getting worse, and seemingly began affecting the car’s performance as Cartelle’s stint continued. Regardless, the Belgian was holding off the Porsche of Frederik Zebis, but on the penultimate lap, the splitter began to vibrate violently.
As the Belgian drove over the main straight’s crest to start the final lap, the splitter finally gave in, and folded underneath the Supra’s front wheels. Zebis powered by into the lead, and would ultimately win the race, while Cartelle would have to settle for second position.
Meanwhile, Ravi Ramyead finished third overall, and second in PRO-AM behind Zebis and Horrell. Courtesy of this result, he and Charlie Robertson leave Portimão as the overall championship leaders in the GT4 Winter Series.
In the Club class, Mattis Pluschkell was set to bring home another win for he and Thilo Goos in the Mücke Aston Martin. However, on the final lap, Pluschkell was forced to pull over with technical issues. This handed the class win to Rafael Rajani and Luis Aguair of Zome Racing.
Joachim Bölting took a second victory of the weekend in the AM class, again working his way forward from the back of the grid.
The GT4 Winter Series now travels between famed Portuguese venues, ahead of the second event of the season at Estoril from 22-25 January.
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
