January 20, 2026 | News | GT Winter Series
Teams from across Europe arrived to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for the first GEDLICH Racing Winter Series event of 2026. Among the drivers, 16 nations were represented on the grid, with 29 cars taking the start of race one.
Pole position for the first race fell to Haupt Racing Team’s Kiano Blum, marking a successful introduction to the GT Winter Series for the Ford Mustang GT3. Juta Racing’s Arūnas Gečiauskas lined up alongside in the Audi R8 LMS Evo II.
In drying conditions, the race began in single-file formation, allowing Kiano Blum to establish a gap as the green flags flew. Gečiauskas initially lined up for a two-by-two start, and Blum took advantage as the Lithuanian racer corrected his error. This also allowed Jonas Karklys to move into second place at the first corner. However, a short time later, the Team Engstler Lamborghini driver found himself pointing the wrong way at turn 13, and fell down the field.
Karklys was not the only driver struggling on a still-slippery track; defending GT3 class champion Kenneth Heyer had a major off at turn 10, causing the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes to fall out of the top 15. However, the German would recover to 11th by the race’s end.
Having started fourth, Krystian Korzeniowski (Olimp Racing Ferrari) had inherited second position after Karklys’ spin, and soon began challenging Kiano Blum for the race lead. At the halfway point of the race, lapped traffic held up the Mustang driver at turn one, allowing Korzeniowski to sweep around the outside and claim a lead he would not surrender.
By the end of the race, Korzeniowski finished 10.976 seconds clear of Blum. Arūnas Gečiauskas finished third, just holding off the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Yaroslav Veselaho. Further back, the GT2 class NM Racing Team Mercedes of Branden Oxley surged past several GT3-spec cars, ultimately finishing eighth overall. LMR Motorsport’s Pablo Bras claimed a dominant victory within the Cup 2 class for Porsche Cup Machinery.
Carl Runefelt won the Cup 1 class in his Ferrari 296 Challenge; he celebrated this with a handstand on the podium.
Race two of the weekend was held in treacherous conditions, as overnight rain left the circuit in a greasy state on Sunday morning. Olimp Racing’s Karol Basz led from pole as the race began. Once again, the race started in single-file, allowing Basz to have an uncontested run to turn one.
Basz built a gap over three seconds in the early minutes of the race. But, as the temperatures rose and the track started to dry, the pendulum swung in favour of SR Motorsport’s Jay Mo Härtling. Basz defended admirably, however the Mercedes of Härtling had superior traction, which the German used to get to the inside of the Ferrari at turns 10 and 11. Basz attempted to cut back, but the traction advantage of the Mercedes proved too much to overcome.
In the remaining five minutes, Härtling proceeded to build a gap of over four seconds, securing a well-deserved win with relentless pace. Basz held on to second, while Marcus Clutton performed a storming drive to finish third, having started eighth in the Orange Racing by JMH McLaren.
One of the most exciting battles in the race decided the Cup 1 class, as Carl Runefelt and Lukas Azzato fought in their Ferrari 296 Challenge machines. After several laps of side-by-side moments, Lukas Azzato found grip on the outside of the Turn 5 hairpin, powering past Runefelt on the uphill run through Turn 6.
Leandro Martins was just ahead of the Cup 1 battle on the road, and romped to a comfortable Cup 2 victory in the LMR Motorsport Porsche. Cup 4 driver Alessio Ruffini finished 11th overall in his Auto Sport Racing Lamborghini, his best overall result of the Portimão event, in a weekend where he was the only class entrant.
The 55-minute pitstop race was held in near-dry conditions, with only a few puddles remaining around the circuit. However, a light sheen of water was still evident on the inside line approaching turn one. This would prove to disadvantage the race pole-sitter, Olimp’s Krystian Korzeniowski, who would lose out to fellow front-row starter Kiano Blum (Haupt Ford) as the race began.
Korzeniowski immediately approached the limit to try and reclaim the lead, but pushed too hard on the run through Turn 9, finding a damp patch at 200kph and rotating the car 720 degrees. Remarkably, he avoided the barriers, and finished the first lap in tenth position.
As a result of the drama behind, Blum had a 3.6-second lead at the end of the first lap, but he would soon find himself under pressure from the #111 SR Motorsport Mercedes of Moritz Wiskirchen. Determined to pass his car to co-driver Michael Sander in the lead, Wiskirchen carried impressive speed around the outside of the final corner, to set himself to sweep by the Mustang at Turn 1.
Halfway through the mandatory pit window – after working his way back up to third – Krystian Korzeniowski handed the car over to Karol Basz. Basz was immediately on the pace, setting purple sectors and fastest laps. Michael Sander exited the pits in the #111 Mercedes ahead of Basz, but was quickly reeled in with 19 minutes left on the clock.
The #64 Mustang exchanged hands from Kiano Blum to Emil Gjerdrum at the last opportunity within the pit window. As Basz reeled in Sander on the main straight, Gjerdrum exited the pits. With Sander not able to match the pace, and Gjerdrum on cold tyres, Basz made up two places in as many braking zones; he was now the race leader.
Basz would quickly build an iron-clad advantage, and ultimately finished the race 17 seconds clear of second-placed Gjerdrum. Michael Sander ultimately fell down the order in just his second weekend of GT3 racing, which handed the last podium slot to Juta Racing’s Arūnas Gečiauskas.
Carl Runefelt and Sean Hudspeth took the Cup 1 victory for AF Corse, after the latter driver performed a brilliant defensive drive in the final lap. AF Corse stablemate Josh Steed came close to claiming the win for he and Sean Ran, but ultimately had to settle for second place.
Leandro Martins and Pablo Bras completed a clean sweep of the Cup 2 class from 16th overall, finishing just ahead of the spectacular Classic&Speed BMW Z4 GT3, raced by Marcus & Christoph Oeynhausen in the GTX class.
Courtesy of their Cup 2 dominance, Martins and Bras lead the overall GT Winter Series championship after the first round on 60 points, two clear of Olimp Racing’s Krystian Korzeniowski and Karol Basz.
The next round of the GT Winter Series takes the paddock to the famed Circuito Estoril, from 22-25 January. Weekend tickets are still available for €25, with one-day ticket options also available.
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
