Mertel Motorsport from Nuremberg will contest the GT Winter Series for the first time in 2024 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after the team competed in the series last year. For the Bavarian team, it is the start of the season after a successful previous year with the title win in the GT Cup Open and the world championship title in the Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondali.
The team will field two Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars in Barcelona. Arturo Melgar and Tommaso Lovati as well as Mark Speakerwas and Maurizio Ceresoli will drive the two cars of the Franconian racing team.
The two driver duos will face strong competition in Barcelona! No fewer than eight Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars have been entered for the season finale of the GT Winter Series and will show exciting one-make cup action in the Cup 1 class!
Pierre Lemmerz will make his racing debut in the GT Winter Series in Estoril. Well-known driver-coach Daniel Schwerfeld will support him in the Audi R8 LMS GT4.
Many men grow up with the dream of becoming a racing driver later in life. Pierre Lemmerz is fulfilling this dream and will make his racing debut at the GT Winter Series in Estoril. Lemmerz will compete with an Audi R8 LMS GT4. The experienced and well known driver coash Daniel Schwerfeld will support him with words and deeds.
The GT4 Audi was only taken over by its owner in October. For the 2022/2023 season, the vehicle – which will compete under the promotion of Lemmerz Kfz – will still compete in its previous design. Owned by Car Collection, the vehicle took part in many sprint and endurance races.
Licence only obtained in October
Pierre Lemmerz only started trackdays this year and is therefore a late entrant to motorsport. The managing director of a car service company from South Hesse only received his racing licence in October! After his debut in Estoril, Lemmerz wants to take part in further race weekends of the GT Winter Series.
“Starting in the GT Winter Series is a dream come true!” said Lemmerz, beaming with joy. “It has always been a dream of mine to compete in motorsport. I am sure that with Daniel Schwerfeld I have the perfect teacher for this at my side!”
Anna Büttner, the team manager at US Racing, was born into motorsport, and has had a varied and very exciting career across multiple disciplines: “My interest in motorsport started pretty early at the age of one. Because I came from a motorsport family, I was always very passionate about it. I decided pretty soon that I would spend my life here at the race track. I started at the age of 19, after my school. I was the assistant to the race director in DTM and Formula Three. I then moved into data engineering assistance with DTM for a couple of years. And I studied as well, in technical business administration.
“After that, I went to work with US Racing. It’s a small team and you do everything. I never wanted to be an engineer, but I found it important to know some technical stuff, and just to be experienced on that as well.”
Büttner’s pleased to see that efforts are being made to grow opportunities for female racing drivers, but believes more can be done at the grassroots level: “I believe there should be more financial support for women, because the basement is done in the karting and the junior series, and this obviously takes a lot of money; not only in F4, but already in karting. It would probably be helpful to to support financially, because you can only be competitive if you drive in the right team with the right material.”
Jil Herbst is perhaps the most ever-present member of staff, male or female, in the Winter Series paddock. Her role as the spearhead of Equipe Vitesse means she has had a strong relationship with many teams in the paddock: “In our team the ratio of men and women is balanced. My team members or I bring our girls to the track one day, and they’re infected immediately! My parents have supported me in building the team over the years, until I took over the leadership on my own last year. Many in the paddock also know me from a young age, so it’s not worth discussing that I am a woman.”
Astrid Lang, the team manager of Rinaldi Racing’s efforts in both GT and Prototype Winter Series, believes that she has seen change in the paddock over her time in the sport. She said: “Yeah, I feel good steps are being made. You now you have female engineers, female mechanics, female drivers. 2012, when I started, the only women I saw were in the organisation or catering. So yes, a step forward for sure, but you still really have to push it. It should be automatically that everybody has the same chance to get the job. So it’s still this thing; we also still receive job applications mostly from male engineers and mechanics.”
Mena Esteves works for the Race Ready Organisation, who support Gedlich Racing during the Winter Series and run modern and historic events across Iberia in the summer months: “I started my career 20 years ago in off-road motorsports. I was involved with that for nine years. And after that, I changed over to corporate events. I was involved on that side for ten years, and then I changed again for circuit racing.”
Esteves is often found in forward-facing roles in the circuit office, and has noticed change across her career in the sport. “When I started, it was mostly guys from the teams. Now we can see mechanics who are girls, managers in the paddock who are female. And 20 years ago, we didn’t see a lot of women in the crew behind the sport.”
Gedlich Racing has been honoured to welcome high-calibre female drivers into our categories once again in 2024, most notably within Formula Winter Series, where numerous F1 Academy drivers competed in the opening three rounds of the season, and Ella Lloyd has made an impact for Rodin Motorsport.
Beyond the starting grid, female staff in team management, engineering, media and logistics continue to thrive and succeed within the Winter Series paddock. We are delighted to celebrate them on International Women’s Day.
The SR Motorsport pairing of Jay Mo Härtling and Kenneth Heyer have dominated the first five events of the 2024 GT Winter Series. They have driven to seven class victories in the GT3 category so far in the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo. The SR Motorsport team – a subsidiary of Schnitzelalm Racing – are therefore on the verge of matching the achievement of Michael Sander and Marcel Marchewicz during the 2021/2022 season, in a Schnitzelalm-entered BMW M240i.
Hartling and Heyer have now scored a total of 104.29 points. The duo therefore have a 26.53-point lead over Leandro Martins and Dieter Svepes in the Racar Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. This means that just a few points at the season finale at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya would be enough for the two AMG drivers to secure the title.
However, Martins and Svepes can now attest to how quickly a race weekend can turn sour, after scoring zero points in Aragon. After a collision in the first race, the duo were also unable to contest the remainder of the event. Härtling and Heyer are aware of the risk that, in the event of an unforeseen incident, the title decision could be turned on its head again!
The Nova NP02 prototype will compete for the first time at the GT Winter Series’ guest round in Estoril.
The second race weekend of the GT Winter Series in the 2022/2023 season will see an interesting debut. For the first time, the Nova NP02 will compete in the racing series. The vehicle entered by ANS Motorsport will start in the Cup X class. Pilot Jonathan Brossard was originally scheduled to pilot a Ligier LMP3 car, but will now take the wheel of the Nova.
The vehicle was presented to the public at the end of 2021 and is a sports car in the FIA E2SC category. The lightweight was made entirely of carbon fibre. The sports car is powered by a Ford Coyote V8 engine, which has a displacement of five litres. The vehicle’s power output is around 460 hp.
Second car from ANS Motorsport
The Nova NP02 will be the second vehicle from ANS Motorsport, which the French team around the professional racing driver Nicolas Schatz will enter in the GT Winter Series. In addition to the Nova prototype, the squad will field a Ligier JS2R for Julien Lemoine.
“We are very pleased about the debut of the Nova NP02 in the GT Winter Series. This shows that our race series is not only interesting for GT cars, but also owners of prototypes find an interesting field of activity in the GT Winter Series!” says GTWS project manager Robin Selbach, before adding with a laugh: “But of course we are also looking forward to the sound when the car with its V8 engine is on track in Estoril!”
Back in the 2022/2023 season, Huber Racing won the GT Winter Series championship with Johannes Kapfinger in a Porsche GT3 Cup (Type 992). Since then, a lot has changed in the Porsche team from near Passau. Following a merger with the successful FIA WEC team Proton Competition, the team now competes under the name Proton Huber Competition.
At the season finale of this year’s GT Winter Series season, the racing team from Hofkirchen will now compete in the popular racing series organised by GEDLICH Racing for the first time this year. Jörg Dreisow and Manuel Lauck, who recently finished a strong third in the GT4 Winter Series at Motorland Aragon, will drive a 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.
The start at the season finale on the outskirts of Barcelona will serve as preparation for the upcoming season in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, where the duo will compete for the first time and face strong international competition. It will also be the first race outing for both of them in Porsche’s current GT3 generation. Last year, the two drivers contested the race weekend in Barcelona and put in a strong performance that ended with overall victory in the endurance race.
The reigning champion team Schnitzelalm Racing returns for the second race weekend of the GT Winter Series in Estoril.
In the 2021/2022 GT Winter Series season, the two Schnitzelalm Racing drivers Marcel Marchewicz and Michael Sander won the title. At the wheel of a BMW M2 CS Racing, the two drivers were finally able to celebrate in the paddock of the Formula 1 circuit in Barcelona. From the second race weekend in Estoril, the racing team around Thomas Angerer, who is a supporter of the GT Winter Series concept, will return to the racing series. At the remaining five events, the team will field GT3 and GT4 cars from Mercedes-AMG.
The first driver duo is set to be the two youngsters Philipp Walsdorf and Jay Mo Härtling in a Mercedes-AMG GT4. The racing team, which has already celebrated successes on the Nordschleife and in other national GT series, will also field a second GT4 for alternating drivers. The team wants to promote young talent and scout out up-and-coming talent on the two production-based GT cars.
Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the start
Schnitzelalm Racing will also be represented in the GT3 class and will enter a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in selected races, thus further strengthening the GT3 class. The drivers of the car have not yet been determined. At the 2021/2022 season finale in Barcelona, Schnitzelalm Racing fielded a GT3 car in racing action for the first time in the team’s history – with Peter Terting and Carrie Schreiner scoring a podium finish on the GP circuit.
“We are very excited about our return to the GT Winter Series!” said Thomas Angerer. “With our title win last year, we have fond memories of this race series. For us, this race series is an important platform where we can promote young talent. Without a lot of pressure, we can put talented young drivers to work here.”
Schedule:
12.12. – 13.12.2022 – Portimão (PRT)
14.01. – 15.01.2023 – Estoril (PRT)
11.02. – 12.02.2023 – Jerez (ESP)
18.02. – 19.02.2023 – Valencia (ESP)
04.03. – 05.03.2023 – Navarra (ESP)
11.03. – 12.03.2023 – Barcelona (ESP)
Race 1
The opening 30-minute sprint race on Saturday afternoon proved eventful, as Martin Kaczmarski and Heyer duelled for the victory. From the rolling start Heyer got the jump into Turn 1 from pole position starter Kaczmarski, as a number of Porsche GT3 Cup cars caused havoc after starting out of position.
Kaczmarski tracked Heyer in the early stages, bided his time and then made his bid for the lead at Turn 12 on lap five. Heyer’s blue SR Motorsport Mercedes ran wide, which allowed Kaczmarski’s white PTT Racing version through for a lead he would not lose.
But two safety car interludes, the first to recover Miguel Gomez’s beached Porsche, gave Kaczmarski a double restart headache. He negotiated both without drama to score his second GTWS race victory, leading Heyer home by 3.5s.
“I’m not so happy because I forgot to wear my sun glasses and the sun was in my eyes!” quipped the winner. “The car was really good and we had a nice fight. I didn’t feel the pressure with the restarts because my rival was really professional and it was fun to spend time racing him. I’m not proud of myself yet. I need more wins!”
David Thilenius completed a Mercedes-AMG GT3 1-2-3 as expected in his Schnitzelalm version, but only after trailing Hubert Darmetko’s GT3 Cup Porsche in the early stages. Following the first safety car restart Leandro Martins also passed Thilenius and challenged Darmetko into Turn 7. The pair made contact, both cars slithering into the gravel trap. Sportingly, Martins acknowledged he was to blame and helped push Darmetko’s car back into the race. The incident gifted Thilenius the podium, Martins’ stranded car triggering the second safety car interruption.
The damage to Martins’ Racar Motorsport 911 ruled the car out from action on Sunday, robbing 2022 Porsche Supercup champion Dylan Pereira of a chance to race.
Plusline Racing Team’s Joachim Bölting finished fourth overall and first in the Cup class ahead of Pierre Ehret on the road. But the latter had been one of the starting position violators and had not served a drive-through punishment, so copped a 35-second penalty. That elevated Pablo Bras, who had served his penalty, to second in class and fifth overall, ahead of the recovering Darmetko.
Race 2
Heyer’s SR Motorsport team-mate Jay Mo Härtling prevailed in the battle of the Mercedes trio in the second sprint race on Sunday.
His victory from pole position was only interrupted by a brief safety car interlude when Porsche driver Pablo Bras showered gravel onto the track with an off at Turn 12. Härtling negotiated the safety car restart without drama and stroked to a comfortable win, 6.649s ahead of Schnitzelalm’s Moritz Wiskirchen.
Race 1 winner Kaczmarski shadowed the top two this time, the PTT driver losing time by running wide at Turn 12 on the 11th lap and was forced to settle for a podium.
The Rinaldi Porsche driven by Christian Hook took fourth overall as the last of the GT3 runners, but only just finished ahead of GT3 Cup class winner Darmetko who made up for his disappointment in Race 1 with a spirited drive. He finished ahead of the Saturday class winner Bölting.
Race 3
Kaczmarski chose to sit out the one-hour endurance race, which in effect left SR Motorsport’s Heyer and Härtling unopposed to claim a comfortable win at the end of a full day of action on Sunday. The pair look set to wrap up the GTWS title at the final round next weekend in Barcelona.
“Kenneth did a great job at the beginning of the race, then we had the driver change and I just carried it home,” said Härtling.
“Jay Mo is more or less a rocket now, he’s getting better and better with every weekend,” said Heyer after giving his team-mate a hug. “I prepared the car as well as I could in the lead, not using too much of the tyres and staying within the track limits. His times in the race were really great. Next weekend if we want to be champions we have to be smart.”
The Schnitzelalm Mercedes finished second, 54.363s down on the winner as the light faded on the circuit. Thilenius didn’t make the task any easier by finding himself swamped by a gaggle of Porsches at the start. But the team helped recover the situation at the pitstops, Wiskirchen taking over to deliver the runner-up position.
There was some humour in the GT3 Cup class. Darmetko put in a typically gritty first stint to challenge a soloing Bölting, before handing over to Mateus Lisowski. But somewhere in the middle of the stop the car broke the pitlane speed limit, earning the pair a drive-through penalty. Lisowski took his punishment to delighted cheers from his amused PTT Racing crew.
Once back out on the circuit Lisowski wasted little time catching and passing Bras in the Wileco Motorsport entry to run second in class, then caught Bölting – only to make a mess of the Cork Screw at Turns 8/9. A quick spin meant he had to start again.
Lisowski caught Bras again and pulled a neat pass at the hairpin, then repeated the move the following lap to relieve Bölting of the class lead and third overall.
Entrepreneur Uwe Lauer will compete in the GT Winter Series with a Ferrari 488 GT3 from Die Biermacher Racing from the second race weekend.
The GT3 field in the GT Winter Series continues to grow from the second race weekend in Estoril. Die Biermacher Racing will bring a Ferrari 488 GT3 to the start, which will be driven by Uwe Lauer. Ferrari veteran Francesco Lopez will be at his side with advice and support.
The beer manufacturer is supported by his main sponsor, the Pfungstädter Brauerei. The Hessian brewery not only advertises on a large scale on the Ferrari of the gentleman driver, but also provided for one or the other fun evening in the paddock of the GT Winter Series in the past.
Return to GT Winter Series
Uwe Lauer already competed in the GT Winter Series in the 2021/2022 season with the Ferrari 488 GT3 and was able to gain experience on the circuits in Spain and Portugal.
“We are very much looking forward to our return to the GT Winter Series! With the experience from the previous season, we want to attack podiums this year. I personally really appreciate the environment of the GT Winter Series, as it is very sociable and friendly,” says Uwe Lauer before the start on the former Formula 1 circuit.
Schedule:
12.12. – 13.12.2022 – Portimão (PRT)
14.01. – 15.01.2023 – Estoril (PRT)
11.02. – 12.02.2023 – Jerez (ESP)
18.02. – 19.02.2023 – Valencia (ESP)
04.03. – 05.03.2023 – Navarra (ESP)
11.03. – 12.03.2023 – Barcelona (ESP)
Race 1
The opening sprint on Saturday afternoon proved a washout as heavy rain thwarted two attempts to get the race going. But with five laps completed behind the safety car, a result was called, half-points were awarded and that meant SR Motorsport’s Härtling and Heyer were confirmed as the 2024 GTWS champions – in strange circumstances.
Qualifying had been cancelled earlier in the day, so the grid was formed from practice times from the pre-weekend test sessions. That meant Piotr Wira led the field from pole position in Goodspeed Racing Team’s Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo from a safety car start. But hopes of releasing the field for racing were scuppered when Martin Kacsmarski – a sprint race winner at MotorLand Aragón a week earlier – beached his PTT Racing Mercedes in a gravel trap on the second safety car lap.
The field retired to the pitlane, but were later released for a second attempt, only for the incessant rain to force the organisers to throw the red flags once again and call the result, with Wira a nominal winner. Härtling had run second in the safety car train, and his score wrapped up the title.
“It feels a bit strange after today because we did not do something for it,” said Heyer. “But it’s half-points so it is enough. Later we will realise it’s been a long wintertime with a lot of races. This rocket man with me here has been going faster and faster every weekend, and for me as an old guy it’s been amazing to see. In a few hours it will have an impact on us, but right now it feels a bit strange.”
“It is an incredible feeling to become champion,” said Härtling, “because it’s the first for me in a GT3 car, and with Kenneth we have been a very good pairing. I am very happy. Today it has been a little bit weird, but I’m thankful for all of this to the Schnitzelalm team. Tomorrow we’ll push to win the two races.”
Race 2
A grid formed by practice times set in mixed conditions left some frontrunners out of position in a dry second sprint on Sunday morning. But Haupt Racing’s Wiebelhaus wasted no time in charging to the front, picking the inside line from third at the rolling start to lead into Turn 1. The 17-year-old then simply drove away from the field.
New co-champion Härtling was back in the SR Motorsport Mercedes and ran second, until a problem left him briefly stranded at the end of the pit straight. Härtling coaxed the car back to the pits and the team eventually sent him back out, but the trouble with the Mercedes persisted.
Wiebelhaus held a 13-second advantage over 2023 champion Johannes Kapfinger in the Joos Sportwagentechnik Porsche 992 GT3 R, but his huge gap was wiped out by a safety car interlude. Race 1 ‘winner’ Wira had come together with the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Pierre Ehret.
Racing resumed with four minutes of the 30 left on the clock, and Wiebelhaus again charged away as his Haupt team-mate Kwanda Mokoena – up from 14th on the grid – demoted Kapfinger, who then came under pressure from the Schnitzelalm Mercedes of Luca Arnold. But the race was stopped abruptly by a heavy accident at Turn 9 for the AF Corse Ferrari 488 Challenge entry of Talal Shair, who thankfully walked away from the wreck which left detritus strewn across the track.
“The pace was quite good and the start was also very good,” said an understated Wiebelhaus after his sixth win of the winter season. “I decided to send it into Turn 1 and it worked out quite well, then I decided to push a bit. Mid-race I tried to manage the gap and then there was a safety car. The restart was quite good as well, before the red flag. The main thing is the driver is OK.”
“That was super-fun,” said second placed Mokoena. “There was a bit of standing water at Turn 1, so I was able to capitalise in my battle with Kapfinger and I saw an opportunity going into Turn 3. At the beginning I could feel the track wasn’t as good as it was on Friday but I made the most out of it. There was plenty of excitement in the first laps, so I decided to stay cool and then when there was a gap I went for it.”
Amaury Bonduel took the Lamborghini Super Trofeo class honours in fifth overall, just ahead of Simon Birch’s novel KTM X-Bow GT2. Dieter Svepes won the Porsche Cup class for Racar in eighth overall, with John Dhillon the best of the Ferrari Challenge runners.
Race 3
The 55-minute endurance race at the end of Sunday afternoon was neutralised from the first lap when Mertel Motorsport’s Ferrari 488 Challenge entry driven by Tommaso Lovati and Stefano Marazzi’s Rossocorsa Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 came together, with Plusline Racing Team’s Marcel van Berlo earning a drive-through penalty as the perpetrator of the incident. Wiebelhaus and Haupt team-mate Mokoena had successfully repelled first-corner challenges from Bonduel’s Lamborghini and Michael Kapfinger’s Porsche to lead the train, with racing resuming on lap six.
From there, the race ran through without further interruption, as Wiebelhaus calmly delivered his seventh victory out of nine starts in the GTWS. He led home Mokoena by an impressive 18.585s, with twins Johannes and Michael Kapfinger chasing the second Haupt Mercedes home just 1.8s down in their Porsche.
Härtling ran the first stint for SR Motorsport before handing over to Heyer, but it wasn’t to be a happy ending for the champions. Daan Arrow in the Goodspeed Mercedes caught Heyer in the closing stages and relieved him of fourth place with a dive down the inside at Turn 10.
Bonduel took another Lamborghini Super Trofeo class win in fifth overall, while Hubert Darmetko shared his PTT Racing Porsche with Mateusz Lisowski to claim GT3 Cup honours. Dhillon, sharing with experienced Ferrari racer Matt Griffin, again won the 488 Challenge category, with a familiar name cropping up in the JVO Racing entry. Ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock finished runner-up in the class with Frank Kewitz.
