February 17, 2026 | News | GT4 Winter Series

GT4 Winter Series: SR Motorsport dominate in Valencia

The GT4 Winter Series crossed the border into Spain for its third round of the season, as the GEDLICH Racing paddock made its way to Valencia.

After an unusually wet January in Portugal, sun and dry conditions greeted the drivers at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. However, the weather predictions for the area suggested extreme winds on Saturday, leaving the local government no choice but to curtail outdoor events.

As a result of the Saturday cancellation, a condensed schedule was organised for Sunday. The planned 30-minute sprint races were cut to 20 minutes, while the pitstop race became a 50-minute encounter. Additionally, the cars of the Sports Prototype Winter Series would share the track, starting behind the GT4 field in a separate classification. The combined grid raced in front of some 13,000 fans, a new one-day record for Winter Series event attendance.

The first 20-minute race saw SR Motorsport’s Enrico Förderer start from pole position alongside Frederik Zebis in the W&S Motorsport Porsche Cayman. Fellow W&S driver Joachim Bölting started well from sixth place, and found himself in third by the first corner, while the top two remained in grid order.

AM driver Bölting seemed to decide his battle was not with the PRO and PRO-AM runners directly behind him, allowing four cars by at the end of the first lap. This decision moved Mario Pinazo into third, at the wheel of the NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT4. However, the local driver – a recent karting graduate – later ran wide at the first corner, handing the position to PRO-AM leader Bruno Pereira, aboard the Araújo Competição Aston Martin.

Pinazo was not willing to take this lying down, and was looking for ways to pass Pereira. He cost himself time at the second corner looking to the outside of the #007 entry, which brought him closer to fifth-placed Tom Papenburg (CV Performance Mercedes). The 15-year-old Dutchman tried to make a move on Pinazo from quite a distance behind at turn four, tagging the fellow Mercedes driver into a spin. This would lead to a non-finish for Pinazo, and a Safety Car to recover the damaged vehicle from the gravel trap.

After the Safety Car, the battle for third would also encompass the PRO-AM lead, as Ravi Ramyead (L’Espace Bienvenue BMW) was challenging Pereira. After some close racing, the fight unfortunately ended with a bang, as Ramyead experienced rear-wheel hop on the approach to turn 11. He missed his braking zone, hit the #007 Aston Martin, and spun Pereira out of the podium places.

At the front of the field, a controlled drive from Enrico Förderer led to a comfortable victory, finishing ahead of Zebis, who was runner-up in the PRO class. While typically a PRO-AM entry, Tim Horrell’s absence placed the car into the top category for this weekend. Ravi Ramyead secured the PRO-AM win from third place overall, ahead of Papenburg and AM winner Joachim Bölting. Bölting finished behind GT Corse’s Manuel Bertolin initially, but the Spanish driver was demoted owing to 5 seconds worth of track limit penalties.

Speedworxx’s Franz Linden won the Cayman Trophy class, finishing eighth overall ahead of Club class winner Thilo Goos (BWT Mücke Motorsport Aston Martin).

Race Two:
The second sprint race once again saw the #11 SR Motorsport entry take an early lead, this time at the hands of Joel Mesch. Meanwhile, the W&S Porsche was in an early second place, this time driven by Nicolas Guillaume. The young Belgian, in his first GT4 Winter Series outing, found himself having to defend hard against the chasing pack throughout the early laps. This left Mesch running alone at the front, while a scrum of cars followed Guillaume in second.

The PRO-AM battle between L’Espace Bienvenue (BMW) and Araújo Competição (Aston Martin) once again got physical, this time with Charlie Robertson and Frederico Peters at the respective controls. Coming out of the first corner on the second lap, the cars made side-on-side contact, cutting down the front-right tyre on the Peters’ Aston Martin, eventually leaving the Araújo entry a lap down.

Shortly thereafter, punchy driving from Raúl Zunzarren (NM Racing Team Mercedes) moved him past Robertson for third overall, though the pair would trade positions multiple times while both looking to pass Nicolas Guillaume for second. Eventually, Zunzarren saw an opportunity to take the inside line at turn two, and moved past the W&S Porsche. Tom Papenburg again exhibited bravery and a dash of optimism: The youngster from CVxJP elected to try passing both Robertson and Guillaume at the same corner, clipping the Porsche and spinning himself out.

With Guillaume now behind Zunzarren, Robertson was the next to challenge the GT racing debutant, and found his way by at turn two. A couple of laps later, Joachim Bölting and Cedric Fuchs were both looking to find a way past Guillaume in the W&S Cayman. Bölting took the outside line at turn 8, and slid on corner exit, collecting the #700 BWT Mücke Aston Martin of Mattis Pluschkell, who was sent into the barrier.

Both drivers were unharmed, but a Safety Car was required to recover the stricken machines, and the race would end before the green flags could fly again. However, just before the Safety car, Fuchs found his way past Guillaume, completing a spectacular run in the #111 SR Motorsport Mercedes, from 15th on the grid to third overall, and the PRO-AM victory. Charlie Robertson finished ahead of Fuchs on the road, but ultimately received a five-second penalty for track limit infringements.

The #11 SR Mercedes of Joel Mesch claimed the overall win, ahead of Raúl Zunzarren of NM Racing Team. Manuel Bertolin won the AM class with an eighth-overall finish, ahead of repeat Cayman Trophy winner Franz Linden. The Club class victory was secured by Zome Racing’s Tiago Loureiro (McLaren 570S GT4).

Race Three:
It was an all-SR Motorsport front row for the third and final race, with Joel Mesch on pole in the #11 PRO class entry, and the #111 of Willi Kühne alongside. Kühne, the AM of the PRO-AM line-up, would quickly drop back as the race began, leaving second position to Raúl Zunzarren’s NM Racing Mercedes in the early stages. Zunzarren would spend much of the first stint underneath the rear-wing of Mesch, but did not find a way past.

Just before the pit window at minute 20 of the 50-minute race, the #95 Zome Racing McLaren briefly came to a halt at turn 10. After a reset, the car continued. However, much of the field anticipated a Safety Car, and peeled into the pits; at the front, the only exception to this pattern was Joel Mesch, who continued on, and built a net advantage over the chasing pack as a result.

Enrico Förderer eventually inherited the leading car at the halfway mark, and would perform a perfect final stint to commandingly win the race. PRO-AM winners Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead eventually took second place overall for L’Espace Bienvenue, as Robertson dispatched NM Racing Team’s Mario Pinazo after the pit cycle. Pinazo drove the Mercedes home to third overall for he and Zunzarren.

The AM victory fell to Team VRT’s Aleksandrs Bobrovs, while Speedworxx’s Linden and Arne Hoffmeister wrapped up a sweep of Cayman Trophy. Zome Racing once again prevailed in the Club class, with the #96 McLaren of Breno Arruda and Tiago Loureiro.

For a second consecutive event, the #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes of Joel Mesch and Enrico Förderer took all three race victories. With a significant advantage in both the overall and PRO standings, the possibility of winning at least one championship at Aragon looms large.

The young Germans will be determined to continue this form at the spectacular Motorland Aragon facility, which plays host to the fourth round of the season from 5-8 March.