February 11, 2026 | News
Ahead of the race weekend, a pair of entries sadly failed to materialise. Chefo Sport’s Ligier JSP4 had gearbox issues that could not be rectified in time for the event, while the Formula GT Radical SR3 had to withdraw owing to an off-track driver injury.
This left a compelling mix of drivers entered by Sünder Motorworks and SPV Racing. Sunder would enter a total of three Radical SR3 XXRs; one under its own team name, for 2025 Radical Cup Scandinavia champion Sebastian Schou and his fellow Dane Morten Strømsted. Meanwhile, live onboard camera company RaceStreaming entered two cars for its co-founders Jess Frandsen and Diego d’Ambra. The cars were run by Sünder, and d’Ambra raced alongside the Malaga-based team’s founder, Steven Berndtson. SPV Racing entered a Radical SR3 RSX for Michael Hove.
Both races in the Sports Prototype Winter Series were held on Saturday, in order to minimise costs for teams and drivers. However, by the late-morning, the weather at Portimão had become unsuitable for racing. As rain pelted the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, the decision was taken to delay both races; the first 40-minute encounter would begin at 15:25, and the second was set to start at 17:20, leaving less than an hour-and-a-half to repair and prepare between races.
The track was drying from the earlier rain showers once it was time for the first race; despite the track not being far away from ‘slick-readiness’ by the formation lap, all teams elected to run the duration of the race on wet tyres.
Sünder Motorworks’ #24 entry started the race from pole position, with Morten Strømsted at the wheel. Michael Hove (SPV Racing) launched from the outside of the front row, and briefly had a nose ahead, but Strømsted eased through to an early lead through the first corner.
Hove soon lost out to Team RaceStreaming’s Diego d’Ambra. d’Ambra would quickly drive away from Hove’s distinctive yellow machine, but didn’t have the pace to pursue Strømsted in the lead. While the top two drove away, Hove proved to be a difficult adversary from Jess Frandsen, who spent much of the first half of the race searching for a way by the RSX-spec RS3, which had the straight-line speed advantage.
Finally, as the pit window opened, Frandsen saw the inside line beckon at turn 13, and made what proved to be a definitive move.
Morten Strømsted handed the leading car over to Sebastian Schou during the mandatory pitstop window. The young Dane set about consolidating the lead built by Strømsted. And, while Steven Berndtson took over the second-placed #22 Team Racestreaming entry and briefly matched the pace of Schou, this form would prove fleeting.
By the end of the race, Schou built a lead of 27 seconds, receiving the chequered flag ahead of Berndtson, Fransden and Hove.
Race two:
The second race of the weekend saw Sebastian Schou take the start from pole position, and he quickly drove away from the field upon the start of the race. Michael Hove once again started from second place, but Steven Berndtson had already moved into second place by the first corner.
This left Hove looking through the mirrors at Jess Fransden once again, though this time the battle would not extend throughout the first half of the race. Fransden took the outside approach towards turn eight, before cutting to the inside and finding superior traction to move past Hove on the first lap.
And, while Hove looked like he had the pace to apply to pressure in return, the SPV driver soon received a drive-through penalty for exiting the pits while red lights were showing, on the sighting lap prior to the race. After serving this penalty, another was applied by race control in short order for starting the race out-of-formation. This effectively concluded the battle for third place in Fransden’s favour.
The first stint of the race saw Schou build a significant lead over Berndtson, before handing the car over to Morten Strømsted. However, on the elder driver’s out-lap, the car looked slow. Indeed, at turn 14, Strømsted pulled over, shut off the engine and reset the car. It was later revealed that he had been stuck in second gear owing to a sensor issue.
The reset worked, and not only did Strømsted retain the lead, but he would ultimately win by 46 seconds over Diego D’Ambra. It was a perfect weekend for Morten Strømsted and Sebastian Schou, who move on to Valencia as runaway points leaders.
The Sports Prototype Winter Series will race its second and final round of 2026 on Saturday 14th February, as the GEDLICH Racing Winter Series collaborates with ROOW for a weekend of motorsport, car culture, high-adrenaline action and thrilling experiences.
6 FEB – 7 FEB PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 14 FEB VALENCIA /E
