February 11, 2026 | News | 6h of Portimao
18 cars arrived to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, after some two-car efforts were condensed to a single entry, and other teams were forced to withdraw. With eight cars in the GT3 class, the overall battle was a point of debate and intrigue going into the weekend. Strong four-car line-ups in the GT4 and Cup 2 class would add further intrigue, along with singular Cup 3 and GT2 entries from Greystone GT and SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm respectively.
Throughout Friday and Saturday, wet conditions dominated the practice and qualifying sessions. By the time qualifying rolled around, the circuit was drying, but teams still had to deploy wet tyres throughout the three sessions.
The average times across Qualifying 1, 2 and 3 determined the grid for the race, and Greystone GT’s Meakin, Kelly and Prette achieved pole position with the only average under two minutes; a 1:59.812. The combined efforts of Marcelo Ramírez and Christian Mansell secured second for the #28 Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, while Iron Lynx’s Ameerh Naran, Sergio Sette Camara and Shawn Rashid lined-up third in the similar Mercedes. Comtoyou Racing rounded out the second row of the grid with the #007 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, piloted by A.J. Muss, Baudouin Detout and Oliver Söderström.
As the six-hour race fired into life, conditions were improving around the circuit after overnight showers. Some teams felt the circuit would soon be ready for slick tyres; SR Motorsport’s GT2 and GT4 Mercedes entries both started on slicks, along with the #60 Razoon – more than racing Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS. However, all three cars struggled in the early minutes.
Jayden Kelly held the early lead as the race went green, and immediately set about building a cushion at the front of the field. As the second lap began, Ariel Levi – making his debut in GT3 racing with Attempto Racing in the #86 Audi R8 LMS Evo II – moved up to second at the expense of Team Motopark’s Marcelo Ramírez. Levi was able to closely match the pace of Jayden Kelly, but was not able to answer the ultimate place of the Australian.
One of the closest battles in the first hour of the race came from the Cup 2 class, as the LMR Motorsport entries of Leandro Martins (#911) and Daniel Neumann (#27) disputed for the lead among the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars. Martins, the founder of the team, would ultimately get the better of his Brazilian counterpart. While the other drivers that started on wets struggled, Jay Mo Härtling (SR Motorsport Mercedes) was able to stay within range of his GT4 adversaries. As the track dried, the German would establish the #111 entry as the leaders in the class.
With 35 minutes of mandatory pitstop time to serve across the first five hours and 30 minutes of the race, a split of strategies was inevitable. As the first stops came in, a Safety Car created yet more of a divide among the front-runners. Greystone GT, who had just served a first – relatively short – pitstop, stayed on the lead-lap upon exit. Meanwhile others were trapped behind the Safety Car; this effectively gave the British team a free lap over the likes of Team Motopark.
The Safety Car was triggered to collect the front splitter of the #27 LMR Porsche, which had been shed on the main straight.
During the first pit cycle, a number of teams had served a longer stop to burn away some of the mandatory time, while others elected for shorter stops and a longer pause towards the end of the race. This meant that a number of the battles for much of the race were ‘invisible’; while cars were several laps apart on the timing screen, the requirement to spend 35 minutes in the pits meant they would meet late in the race.
Indeed, while there were not always battles in the overall order, there were numerous dogfights on-track. Christian Mansell (Team Motopark) spent almost twenty minutes holding off Louis Prette (Greystone GT) post-Safety Car in the second hour, before the McLaren driver moved by at turn 14.
Throughout the middle portion of the race, Razoon – more than racing’s Porsche Cayman was confined to the pitlane. As GT racing newcomer Taegen Poles was strapped into the GT4 class entry, the Cayman would not fire back into life, and instead headed for the garage. Over two hours later, the car returned to the circuit; the starter motor was found to be the cause of the problem, and was replaced. While Razoon would not complete enough laps to be a classified finisher, both Poles and Gregor Schneider were able to complete full stints with the repaired Porsche.
By the second hour of the race, the entire field was on slick tyres. However, after spits of rain early in the second half of the race, heavy rain returned to the circuit with just under 90 minutes of racing left to go. Zac Meakin took over the race-leading Greystone McLaren for the final hour, and looked to be struggling for grip and control on his early laps in the car. However, with an almost two lap buffer, the Brit had time to find his rhythm.
In second place going into the closing stages was the #108 Iron lynx Mercedes of Sergio Sette Camara. After strong stints from Ameerh Naran and Shawn Rashid, Camara drove the last two hours of the race. The Brazilian competitor set some of the fastest laps of the race before the rain fell, and adapted well to the wet conditions. Christian Mansell was running third for Team Motopark; and with significant gaps between the top three, the podium looked secure.
Less certain was the battle for fourth. In the wet conditions, Oliver Söderström (Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin) was struggling, while Ariel Levi (Attempto Audi) was gaining at a rate of three seconds per lap or more. Going onto the final lap of the race, Levi was only 3.4 seconds away from Söderström. However, Levi would fall short, losing the car while testing the limits under braking for turn 13, running wide and ultimately settling a fifth-place finish.
As the fourth place battle was decided, Zac Meakin crossed the line to win the second edition of the 6H of Portimão for Greystone GT, along with Jayden Kelly and Louis Prette. The McLaren 720S GT3 Evo completed 170 laps. The #108 Iron Lynx Mercedes finished a lap behind in second place, ahead of Team Motopark’s #28 entry of Mansell and Marcelo Ramírez.
In the Cup 2 class, it was a dominant performance from the #911 LMR Porsche pairing, Leandro Martins and Dieter Svepes. The team elected to rush through the early pitstops, serving a bulk of the mandatory pitstop time towards the end of the race; through this strategy, the car was routinely in the overall top-five, even leading overall at times. It ultimately finished seventh, and was the first non-GT3 home.
In the GT4 class, the #11 SR Motorsport Mercedes by Schnitzelalm Mercedes crew secured a comfortable win. The car, driven by Jay Mo Härtling, Kenneth Heyer, Enrico Förderer, Cedric Fuchs and David Thilenius, finished ahead of the W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS. Daniel Nilsson, Edvin Hellsten and Max Kronberg drove the #31 in a strong showing, but could not beat the performance of the Mercedes quintet. SR Motorsport also won the GT2 class, while Greystone GT achieved an additional class win, thanks to Josh Mason, Hugo Bac and Michael O’Brien in their McLaren Artura Trophy Evo.
The second edition of the 6H of Portimão highlighted the continued growth of the event and the wider Winter Series portfolio. Despite tricky conditions and arduous moments, every car saw the chequered flag. Now, with GEDLICH Racing’s annual endurance race in the books, much of the 6H paddock continues on to Valencia, for the third rounds of the GT and GT4 Winter Series from 12=15 February.
