The famed sportscar racing team – led by Austrian legend Franz Konrad – will welcome Carrie Schreiner into the fold, as she returns to GEDLICH Racing’s GT category alongside defending Prototype Winter Series champion Danny Soufi. Schreiner competed in the 2024 Formula Winter Series, and has also previously raced in the GT Winter Series.
Elsewhere, Schreiner has competed in Lamborghini Super Trofeo, ADAC GT Masters and the first two seasons of F1 Academy. After representing Sauber during the 2024 F1 Academy season, Schreiner remains with the famed Swiss team as a brand ambassador in 2025.
Soufi has been partnered with Konrad since 2022, when he moved to Europe to pursue the dream of sportscar racing. The driver moved across the Atlantic to work and race with Konrad Motorsport, and has been a regular fixture of the team’s line-up in LMP3 and GT competition. The 2024 Prototype Cup Germany vice-champion has regularly driven Konrad’s GT3 Lamborghini at the Nordschleife, in NLS and the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
A deluxe grid is expected as the GT Winter Series returns to Valencia on 13-16 February. Last year, 10,000 spectators witnessed the GEDLICH Racing Winter Series spectacle at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. The event is free to attend once again in 2025, and will also be streamed live on the Winter Series YouTube channel.
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMÃO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
Alisha Palmowski and Rafaela Ferreira will take the start this weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, to kick off a three-round campaign for Campos. Chloe Chambers will join the team at Valencia, racing alongside Palmowski. Chambers is set to remain in the line-up for Motorland Aragon, where Ferreira will once again compete.
Alisha Palmowski, 18, achieved early karting success in the UK-based Daniel Ricciardo Series, before moving on to cars within the 2022 Ginetta Junior Championship. After a second season in Ginettas, finishing fifth in the points, Palmowski moved into single seaters via the 2024 GB4 Championship. The British racer took three victories during the season, claiming vice-champion status. She ran as an F1 Academy wildcard entry in Qatar, finishing fifth in the first race, while the second was cancelled.
Brazilian hopeful Rafaela Ferreira, 19, moved into car racing during the 2023 F4 Brazilian Championship. After scoring a podium in her first season, Ferriera scored three race victories in 2024, along with seven additional podium finishes. She finished fourth in the standings, in a championship that utilises the same Tatuus T-421 chassis, Abarth 1.4-litre powertrain and Pirelli tyres as Formula Winter Series.
Chloe Chambers, 20, will make her debut in Formula Winter Series with significant single-seater experience to draw upon. After a season competing across various F4 series in 2021, Chambers was a part of the 2022 W Series. During 2023, the American took a race victory in Formula Regional Oceania, while also successfully competing in Porsche Sprint Challenge North America. She joined the 2024 F1 Academy season, and stood on the top step at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, ultimately finishing sixth in the standings.
Campos Racing finished third in the 2024 Formula Winter Series, and fielded vice-champion Andres Cardenas.
All three drivers in the team’s 2025 Formula Winter Series line-up are set to compete in Campos-run cars during the upcoming F1 Academy season. Palmowski is set to wear the colours of Red Bull Racing, Ferreira will represent the Racing Bulls team, and Chambers will receive backing from both Red Bull and its 2026 Formula One powertrain partner Ford.
The strong line-up from Campos is another thrilling addition to a competitive 2025 Formula Winter Series grid, with a capacity field set to compete at the season-opener. Every race of the season will be broadcast live on the Winter Series YouTube channel, starting with all of the action from Portimão this coming weekend.
30 JAN – 2 FEB PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
Soufi started the first 50-minute race from pole position, and proceeded to build a gap over Phillip Lindberg in the High Class Racing Ligier. Behind the two silver-rated drivers, a battle among the bronzes took place, as Quentin Joseph (CLX Motorsport Ligier) was pursued by Jon Brownson’s DKR Engineering Duqueine, and Christian Gisy’s Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier. Brownson dove to the inside at the first corner on lap four, successfully moving up to third place. Joseph’s momentum on the run to turn three was compromised, and Gisy tried to sneak by too. However, Joseph turned across the front end of the Racing Spirit of Leman entry, sending the CLX Ligier into a spin.
Gisy began closing in on Brownson, but was forced to relinquish fourth place back to Joseph via a drive-through penalty for the collision.
Owing to the pitstop handicap system, Soufi’s pitstop was the better of 30 seconds slower than the line-ups featuring bronze drivers. However, he built enough of a gap to continue as the race leader regardless.
Soufi would ultimately win the race by 17 seconds, ahead of the DKR Engineering Duqueine, which was taken over by Laurents Hoerr. CLX Motorsport’s David Droux finished third after taking over the Ligier from Qunetin Joseph.
Phillip Lindberg fell to fourth after the pit window, while the father-son duo of Christian and Vincent Gisy finished fifth. The Racing Experience Duqueine did not finish, after Wolfgang Payr began to slow with a power steering issue.
On the installation lap for Sunday’s race, Racing Experience wheeled out its spare chassis for Payr’s co-driver Mattias Bjerre Jakobsen. However, as it arrived on the pit straight, the car began smoking heavily. The connection for the water pipes had failed on the car, which meant the Duqueine dumped its water around the circuit on the way to the grid. The team brought the car back to the pitlane, and topped it up.
The race began without the Racing Experience Duqueine, and polesitter Laurents Hoerr led off the line. Jakobsen would enter the race as the other drivers passed the first sector split, but immediately pulled up as the car continued to smoke. The safety car was scrambled, however, the temperature gauge in Jakobsen’s car dropped to normal levels, and the team instructed him to drive on.
Therefore, the race restarted with the #12 car at the back of the field as scheduled.
At the front, Hoerr continued to lead once the field was released from the safety car.
During the first stint of the race, Danny Soufi – who started second – kept Hoerr in his sights, before the pit window began, and Soufi opted to pit early. Theoretically, Hoerr’s co-driver Jon Brownson should have returned to the track in the lead. However, the car failed to restart after the driver change, and Brownson would ultimately re-join the race a lap down after a push start from the DKR team.
This left Quentin Joseph in the lead in his CLX Motorsport Ligier, and Racing Experience’s Wolfgang Payr second after a strong stint from Jakobsen.
Payr would quickly be dispatched by Soufi, while Joseph tried to focus on setting the fastest laps he could to maintain his lead. However, with Soufi taking four seconds a lap out of the gap, the American was soon challenging Joseph for position.
However, as the pair raced side-by-side down the main straight, double yellow flags waved at turn one. Phillip Lindberg had spun, and Soufi lifted off to allow Joseph to lead them by the stalled High Class Racing Ligier.
Just after the leaders passed Lindberg, the Full Course Yellow was deployed. This was lifted a lap later at the first turn, and Soufi quickly managed to pass Joseph around the outside at turn four.
Over the ten minutes that remained, Soufi would proceed to build a lead of 38 seconds over Joseph, with the pair finishing first and second respectively. Chrisian and Vincent Gisy rounded out the podium, after Vincent dispatched Wolfgang Payr with a half-dozen minutes left on the clock.
With Danny Soufi’s 100 per cent record retained, the Konrad Motorsport driver currently sits on 100 points in the championship standings. 34 points behind, CLX Motorsport’s Quentin Joseph and David Droux are second in the standings on 66 points, while DKR Engineering’s Jon Brownson and Laurents Hoerr sit third on 56.
The Prototype Winter Series is now into it’s mid-season break, while the Asian Le Mans Series concludes in the Middle East.
Soufi – the 2024 PTWS champion – is in a strong position to retain his title in 2025, but nothing is guaranteed with four races left to go. His 100 per cent winning record is likely to come under scrutiny, as additional teams are expected to join the series for the final two rounds of the season, starting at Motorland Aragon from 27 February – 2 March.
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
30 JAN – 02 FEB 6h of PORTIMÃO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
13 MAR – 16 MAR 6h of BARCELONA /E
Aleksander Ruta will graduate from karting this year. The Polish racer will compete in the full Formula Winter Series, and will be keen to build upon promising seat time in testing. Ruta will be CRAM’s full-season hope in the Formula Winter Series, and will be hoping to perform well within the Rookie category for single-seater newcomers.
The second CRAM seat will be split between two drivers. For the first two rounds, including this weekend’s season-opener at Portimão, Aiva Anagnostiadis will take the wheel. The Australian has previously competed in karting domestically and internationally, and made her first appearances in single seater racing during the 2024 Indian F4 season, finishing tenth in the standings and scoring a top-five finish at Madras.
German 15-year-old Elia Weiss will join CRAM for the second half of the season, and will also race alongside Ruta in the 2025 Italian F4 season. The driver from Aschheim has two national karting championships to his name, including the 2024 ADAC Kart Masters X30 Senior class. His debut in single seaters will come in the Formula Winter Series, and is hotly anticipated by those looking for Germany’s next major talents.
CRAM, a staple part of the F4 landscape, is returning to the GEDLICH Racing paddock after debuting last year.
The first round of the 2025 Formula Winter Series begins this coming weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. All three races will be streamed live on the Winter Series YouTube channel.
30 JAN – 2 FEB PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
Thomas Andersen and Simon Birch will team up once again, just days after debuting the car at the second round of the GT Winter Series. Birch, 18, has already competed in a pair of endurance races with Razoon in 2025; the Dubai 24H and Yas Marina 6H. The younger driver is the more experienced in international endurance racing, meanwhile, Andersen’s long-distance efforts confined to the Danish Endurance Championship.
Razoon – more than racing is a fixture of the endurance racing scene across Europe and the wider world, and has regularly scored class victories within Creventic’s GTX and GT4 categories, using KTM vehicles.
The 6H Portimão will mark the first time Razoon has taken on the challenge of a long-distance race utilising a GT3-spec machine.
GEDLICH Racing hosts two six-hour races in 2025, beginning with the 6H Portimão on 31 January-2 February. A week after the conclusion of the 2025 GEDLICH Winter Series calendar, the 6H Barcelona will wrap up the winter racing calendar from 14-16 March. Both events will be streamed in their entirety on the Winter Series YouTube channel.
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
30 JAN – 02 FEB 6h of PORTIMÃO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
13 MAR – 16 MAR 6h of BARCELONA /E
Driver and team partner Jose Garcia will race on both weekends, along with Sünder Motorworks founder Steven Berndtson. The pair will be joined by Lionspeed’s team principal Patrick Kolb for the six-hour race. Garcia and Berndtson will be looking to gain track knowledge during the GT4 Winter Series event, and perform well in the AM class in the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS.
Garcia was part of a multiple class podium-winning entry in the 2024 Creventic 24H Series GT4 class, along with Kolb. Berndtson has spent the majority of his driving career as a coach, however, his previous experience includes Radical and Porsche Cup racing. In the GT4 Winter Series, the pair will be entered into the AM class.
The Bad Homburg-based team is a Porsche specialist in both historic and modern motorsport. Over the course of the young team’s history, Lionspeed and Kolb himself have excelled in GT competitions around the world, including NLS, GT World Challenge Europe and the Creventic 24H Series. In the Nürburgring 24 Hour, Kolb has won the SP9 PRO-AM class twice, in 2021 and 2024. On the second occasion, he did so with his own team.
Kolb and Garcia come to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with vast experience of the car, and joined by Berndtson, the Lionspeed GP squad will be a very competitive GT4 entrant during the 6H Portimão.
The GT4 Winter Series and the 6H Portimão will be streamed live on the GEDLICH Racing Winter Series YouTube channel, alongside the entire 2025 Winter Series. Subscribe to see the first GEDLICH six-hour race unfold!
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
Both AF Corse Cup 1 entries secured overall race victories at Estoril. In the sprint race on Sunday, Cristiano Maciel won in his second ever motor race, despite starting the race from seventh on the grid. In the pitstop race, which concluded early due to a red flag, Andreas Bogh Sorensen claimed the win despite crashing moments before the race was halted.
Both Maciel, his co-driver Rui Aguas and Sorensen will be back on the grid this weekend at Portimão. While the Danish driver indicated that he intends to drive solo in the GT Winter Series, Mikkel Mac is listed as Sorensen’s second driver. For this weekend, the #76 Ferrari will be joined by a fleet of additional entries.
John Dhillon and Matt Griffin, who finished third in the 2024 GT Winter Series, are making their first appearance of the season in a Cup 1 Ferrari 296 Challenge. Rafael Duran will also enter the Cup 1 class, set to be joined by Singaporean racer Sean Hudspeth. Hudspeth has been a well-regarded Ferrari GT driver since 2018, and won the PRO-AM class of the Italian GT Championship in 2019.
Alberto Duran and Nicola Caldani will share the fifth 296 Challenge. Meanwhile, a Cup 5 entry will also appear in the AF Corse garage, as Darren Howell is joined by Sean Doyle in a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo.
AF Corse is one of many leading teams that will be present at the second round of the GT Winter Series at Portimão. All of the action will be streamed live on the Winter Series YouTube channel.
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
At Portimão and Valencia, the full-season Club class Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4 of Thilo Goos will be joined by Tobias Bille Clausen and Axel Bengtsson in the Mercedes.
Clausen will be making his car racing debut in the GT4 Winter Series, after a year spent testing numerous GT4 cars in 2024. Previously, he competed across Europe in Kart racing, securing strong results in Germany, Sweden and his native Denmark.
Axel Bengtsson, from Sweden, has had a brief but varied car racing career so far. After a strong tenure in Karts, he moved into the Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) for 2022. He immediately impressed, scoring a race victory on his way to sixth in the standings. Since then, Bengtsson has raced in GT4, Radical sportscars and Porsche Cup machinery, as well as the new all-electric iteration of STCC.
The young all-Silver line-up will join the PRO class of the GT4 Winter Series. Both drivers will be eager to begin their partnership with strong results, ahead of their summer campaign in the 2025 ADAC GT4 Germany with Mücke.
The 2025 GT4 Winter Series will be streamed live all season long on the Winter Series YouTube channel.
*pictures from GT Winter Series season 2022/2023 & 2024
16 JAN – 19 JAN ESTORIL /P
23 JAN – 26 JAN PORTIMAO /P
13 FEB – 16 FEB VALENCIA /E
27 FEB – 2 MAR ARAGÓN /E
6 MAR – 9 MAR BARCELONA /E
While three teams and three manufacturers shared the victories at Estoril 12 months ago, the Elite Motorsport McLaren Artura of Joshua Rattican and McKenzy Cresswell swept all three races in 2025.
Saturday:
Saturday’s 30-minute sprint race, held in picturesque sunshine, saw Rattican escape the chasing pack from pole position. SR Motorsport’s Enrico Förderer would be the only driver to stay within sight of Rattican for much of the race. However, an ignition coil problem caused the 18-year-old German’s Mercedes to enter an emergency mode on 75 per cent power. This allowed the McLaren of GT4 debutant Charlie Hart (RAFA Racing by Race Lab) to inherit second position, while Förderer limped home to third.
Pro-AM victory would go to Tim Horrell of W&S Motorsport, who battled with the PROs throughout the race. After two years of development and hard work, the paraplegic racer reported feeling more comfortable than ever with his bespoke hand control setup.
Sunday:
Sunday morning marked the GT4 racing debut of GB3 race winner McKenzy Cresswell, and he would pick up the baton left by his teammate in the second sprint.
Wet conditions made for a largely spread out affair, and Cresswell would eventually win by 17 seconds. Peter Terting of Plusline Racing Team took second, also netting the PRO-AM victory in the #69 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS. 2024 GT Winter Series champion Jay Mo Hartling took third overall in the SR Motorsport Mercedes, ahead of SVG Motorsport’s Owen Hizzey. The PRO-AM class Ginetta moved up from ninth on the grid in the first laps of the race, much to the joy of the British team making its international GT debut.
Cedric Fuchs came home in fifth overall, winning Cayman Trophy in his CS-spec Porsche Cayman. The Cayman Trophy cars are theoretically slower than GT4s, but the 2024 Tourenwagen Junior Cup champion thrived in the wet.
The rain continued to be a factor in the 60-minute pitstop race, and Elite Motorsport saw no reason to change its form. Josh Rattican and McKenzy Cresswell won by over 25 seconds, capping off a magnificent start to Elite’s busy, multi-discipline 2025 schedule.
Alon Gabbay and Maximilian Schreyer took second place in their W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman, with the latter driver performing admirably in the tricky conditions during his first ever weekend of car racing. SR Motorsport’s Hartling and Förderer took third position. Tim Horrell and Nico Gründel won the PRO-AM class, and once again looked to be on pace with PRO cars throughout the race.
Round two: Additional entries add to the thrills at Portimao
In the second round of the 2025 GT4 Winter Series, the grid will be enriched by top teams including Lionspeed GP, FK Performance and Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport. Meanwhile, BWT Mucke Motorsport will expand its effort into the PRO class, entering a Mercedes AMG GT4 for Axel Bengtsson and Tobias Bille Clausen.
After making his racing debut at Portimao 12 months ago, Franz Linden of Speedworxx Automotive will once again enter the Cayman Trophy class alongside his driver coach Arne Hoffmeister.
Saturday:
The first GT Winter Series race of 2025 was held in near-perfect conditions. A multi-class fight at the front of the order enthralled observers trackside on Saturday evening.
Uniq Racing’s Jerzy Spinkiewicz started the race from pole position in his Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo II, alongside the CBRX by SPS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Dexter Muller.
However, as the 30-minute race began, the #76 AF Corse Ferrari 296 Challenge car of Andreas Bogh Sorsensen surged up the field from the third row of the grid. The Dane found himself in the race lead by the first corner. He would hold this position for two laps, before Spinkiewicz capitalised on an opportunity to lunge for the lead at turn one.
Spinkiewicz proceeded to build a gap at the front, however, an electrical issue would strike the Lamborghini two laps later.
Sorsensen inherited the lead once more, and was immediately under scrutiny from GT3 Poland’s Seweryn Mazur in a Super Trofeo-spec Lamborghini. In a near-replica of Spinkiewicz’s earlier move, Mazur braved a dive to the inside at the first corner, and emerged as the leader. Sorensen was demoted to second, and in the clutches of two GT3 Mercedes; Muller and Kenenth Heyer (SR Motorsport).
Muller found his way by and proceeded to build a gap. However, Heyer struggled to pass Sorensen’s Cup 1-entered Ferrari, which had a noticeable edge on the main straight. After over ten minutes where Heyer – the reigning GT Winter Series champion – had to exercise patience, opportunity finally beckoned as the pair swapped positions over half a lap. The decisive move came at turn three, seemingly dropping Sorensen out of the overall podium places.
However, it was not to be for the #1 SR Motorsport Mercedes, which limped into the pits with a technical glitch. Sorensen, after a race of hard battling, claimed third overall and the Cup 1 win, behind GT3 class winner Dexter Muller in second.
Seweryn Mazur, in his Cup 4 Lamborghini, held firm at the front to take victory for his GT3 Poland team. For the second year in a row, the Polish outfit claimed the first overall win of the GT Winter Series season.
Sunday:
Sunday morning announced itself with sheets of rain at Estoril, which would persist for much of the day.
A home nation hero emerged in Sunday’s 30-minute sprint, as Portugal’s Cristiano Maciel moved through the order in his Ferrari 296 Challenge. The AF Corse driver took Cup 1 honours and overall victory from seventh on the grid, a stunning achievement in his second ever motor race.
The wet conditions appeared to suit the Cup 1 Ferrari Challenge cars, as second overall fell to Goncalo Araujo in his 296. Cup 4 racer Jerzy Spinkiewicz took third overall in his Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo, while Andreas Bogh Sorensen took fourth overall. Moritz Wiskirchen in the #1 SR Mercedes finished fifth and won the GT3 class.
The 55-minute pitstop race took place in the toughest conditions of the day. The safety car was deployed twice to recover stranded cars, and ultimately, a red flag would signal an early conclusion. After battling at the front throughout the weekend, Andreas Bogh Sorensen finally took an overall race victory for AF Corse, as well as the Cup 1 honours. However, Sorensen was one of several drivers to lose control in increasingly wet conditions. He found the barriers after aquaplaning at turn five, and as several others also suffered incidents on the same lap, the race was red-flagged with just under ten minutes remaining.
Sorensen was awarded the victory on count-back. Cristiano Maciel and Rui Aguas finished second overall, followed by GT3 class winners Kenneth Heyer and Moritz Wiskirchen.
Round two: Bigger grids and excitement expected at one of the world’s most exciting tracks
As the GT Winter Series gets ready for its second round at Portimao, many eyes will be focused on young talent Keanu Al Azhari. The 17-year-old Emirati was a winner in last year’s Formula Winter Series, and will make his GT3 racing debut with SSR Performance this coming weekend in a Porsche 992 GT3 R.
Thomas Andersen and Simon Birch join the field, in their first race outing with the Razoon Porsche they are set to race in ADAC GT Masters. Konrad Motorsport, Pellin Racing and Attempto Racing are also set to join the grid.
The Cup classes will benefit from additional Ferrari 296 Challenge entries from AF Corse, a pair of KTM X-Bow GT2s from MZR, and the first appearance of Greystone GT on the GT Winter Series grid, with Oliver Webb and Ryan James in a McLaren Artura Trophy.
All of the action will be streamed live on the Gedlich Racing Winter Series YouTube channel, on January 25-26.
