The debut of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica (PSCI) at the Andalusian circuit of Monteblanco saw Manuel Alves (Lob Motorsport) and Dylan Pereira (AF & V Motorsport) win the two Sprint races. Dylan Pereira and his teammate André Fernandes also secured another victory for their team in the Endurance Race.
The program for this second round of the PSCI proved to be very demanding for the 20 drivers of four nationalities who competed in the south of Spain, providing very intense races, demonstrating the increasing level of competitiveness in the field. Sprint Race 1: Manuel Alves overcomes the opposition and wins with authority Driving his Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, Manuel Alves dominated almost completely the opening round on Saturday, being the strongest in Qualifying 1 and leading from start to finish in Sprint Race 1, also achieving the fastest lap of this race.
The LOB Motorsport driver made the most of his position at the front of the grid to take the lead, despite facing strong opposition from Alejandro Barambio and José Barros, who would go on to engage in an intense duel for 2nd place. Manuel Alves’ advantage varied without exceeding two seconds until, near the halfway point of the 20-minute + 1 lap race, Alejandro Barambio brought the GT Corse 992 GT3 Cup closer to the leader, especially when the frontrunners began to overtake the drivers behind, even attempting some attacks, although without success, as Alves would increase the pace again and crossed the finish line with around three seconds of advantage over the Spaniard, who had meanwhile suffered and successfully avoided another attack from José Barros, author of an excellent race, rewarded with a third place finish. The two finished practically neck and neck.
The top three drivers secured identical positions in the Category 2 standings, with Manuel Alves winning the PROAM Group in this category and Barambio triumphing in the AM category. In Category 1, Rui Miritta was the master and master of the race, dominating completely from start to finish. The Monteiros Competições driver finished the race with a substantial lead over his teammate Nuno Inocêncio, who came in second, thus achieving his first victory of the season, to which he added the victory in the GD Group. The Spaniard Pablo Hernandez took the RGB Racing Team’s 991.1 to 3rd place in the category, winning the AM Group. Francisca Queiroz comfortably secured another victory in the Ladies Cup, a competition in which the young Maria Sánches Iglesias was unable to provide any opposition, as she was forced to retire at the end of the first lap, with problems in the Monteiros Competições Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup. Sprint Race 2: no one stopped Dylan Pereira!
The summary of the discussion of the triumph in Sprint Race 2 is very Spartan: Dylan Pereira came out like a missile from the ‘pole’ and began to ‘build’ a gap to his closest rivals from the opening lap and, always running faster lap after lap, he ended up with an advantage of more than 9 seconds over Borja Garcia (GT Corse) and Manuel Alves, who were the protagonists of the race’s battle from start to finish. The two even ended up cornering side by side and, again, had an opportunity to try to trouble Dylan Pereira when, towards the end of the race, on the 9th lap, an incident forced the Safety Car to come out and remain on the track until the end of the 20 minutes of regulation, leaving a grouped and fierce group to fight for the race in a single lap! Dylan Pereira was not surprised and escaped from the others, on his way to his first victory in a Sprint Race of the PSCI 2025, also celebrating a double triumph in Category 2 and in the PROAM Group. Borja Garcia defended his 2nd place overall and in the category well, forcing Manuel Alves to settle for a double 3rd place in both races.
The triumph in the AM Group was secured by Jorge Ramirez (RCG Racing Team), who came in 5th overall. In Category 1, Nuno Inocêncio achieved his fourth victory of the season. During the race, the duel between him and Rui Miritta was intense, but the victory would only happen after the race had finished, with Miritta being disqualified by decision of the Commissioners’ Board. Thus Inocêncio inherited the victory, still being the best in the GD Group, while André Marques moved up to 2nd place, savoring victory in the AM Group. Pablo Hernandez repeated the feat of the first race and was once again 3rd among the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.
In the Ladies Cup, Francisca Queiroz took the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup from LOB Motorsport to another comfortable victory. British driver Chloe Grant was forced to retire on lap 8, but as she completed the minimum number of laps to qualify, she marked her PSCI debut with a 2nd place finish in this championship. Endurance Race: and two wins for AF & V Motorsport.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica armada’s passage through the Monteblanco Circuit ended with the Endurance Race. 50 minutes of attacking almost four kilometers of abrasive asphalt, in temperatures of 30 degrees, provided a race that had everything to be exciting. And it was… GT Corse placed its Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, driven by Alejandro Barambio and Borja Garcia, on pole, with the AF & V Motorsport team 2 alongside it, with José Barros racing with Nuno Baptista. Right behind, in the second row, Manuel Alves started, defending alone for LOB Motorsport and the AF & V Motorsport duo, formed by André Fernandes and Dylan Pereira, who had the biggest share of favoritism, taking into account the victory they had obtained in Portimão.
The opening laps were run with Alejandro Barambio, Manuel Alves and José Barros always close together until, on the 10th lap, Alves put the LOB Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 Cup in the lead and saw José Barros attempt a ‘muscular’ manoeuvre to overtake Alejandro Barambio, with the latter ending his race in the gravel and Barros losing the 2nd place he had momentarily achieved due to problems with his 992 that took him to the pits. The Porsche would only return to the track with Nuno Baptista much later, 4 laps ahead of the race, but he still managed to recover to 9th place. Manuel Alves led calmly, gaining some distance from André Fernandes, while Jorge Ramirez, author of a very effective race at the wheel of the RGC Racing Team Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, settled solidly in 3rd place. From minute 20 onwards, the usual 10-minute window opened for the mandatory pit stop to change drivers, without this causing many changes at the front of the race, except for the fact that Manuel Alves and Dylan Pereira, now installed in the cockpit of the AF & V Motorsport car, left the pits separated by a few seconds. And, quickly, Dylan Pereira reached the back of Alves’ car, overtaking the Portuguese driver at the end of the 18th lap, quickly starting to gain an advantage that, by the end of the race, would be 12 seconds, thus giving his team a clear and fair victory.
Manuel Alves calmly gave LOB Motorsport another podium finish at the weekend, finishing in 2nd place. Meanwhile, Jorge Ramirez lost 3rd place with just 5 minutes to go, with problems with his car, and was, fortunately for his team, replaced on the last step of the podium by Daniel Garcia, who also defends the colors of the RCG Racing Team. Francisca Queiroz’s fabulous performance was a highlight.
The young Portuguese driver raced alone, as always, and placed the second LOB Motorsport car in a fantastic 4th place overall, also claiming the third victory of the weekend in the Ladies Cup. Monteiros Competições took the triumph in Category 1, with Nuno Inocêncio, 6th overall. Now, the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica is moving to Valencia. The 3rd round of 2025 will be held at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit on June 14th and 15th.