Manuel Alves and Borja Garcia triumph in Valencia!

In a weekend of great battles at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, Manuel Alves’ unbeaten streak was finally broken. While the fast Portuguese driver from LOB Motorsport still managed to exert his dominance on Saturday, winning Qualifying and dominating Race 1, thus imposing his Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup for the seventh consecutive time, Sunday crowned an astonishing performance by Spaniard Borja Garcia. Playing at home and in his debut in this series, the Valencian driver completely dominated the race, placing the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup from Equipo GT Corse on the top step of the podium, thrilling the thousands of spectators present at the circuit.

The crowd that filled the stands at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia was a reward for the spectacle provided by the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica (PSCI), as well as the other competitions included in yet another NAPA Racing Weekend.

Fifteen teams took part in this fourth round of the 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica season and, in addition to the excitement in the training sessions, the two races were very intense, with the Porsche ‘armada’ squad going head-to-head over the positions in the overall standings and, in particular, the debate over supremacy in the Groups and Classes of the competition.

Manuel Alves dominated the first day

On the Saturnian day, only the opening free practice session escaped Manuel Alves’s clutches. Afterwards, the LOB Motorsport driver imposed his Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup in the 2nd free practice session, as well as in Qualifying, held early in the afternoon, securing pole position for Race 1, although he did so against strong opposition from Gonçalo Fernandes (Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup), who finished a meager 170 thousandths of a second behind.

The 992 GT3 CUP model would take the next three places on the grid to Ukrainian Yuri Protazov (Hadeca Racing), Spaniard Jorge Ramirez (RGB Racing Team) and Colombian Juan Vega (Hadeca Racing), with Vasco Barros having a less successful qualifying, not getting past sixth place, thus placing his LOB Motorsport Porsche 991.2 on the third row of the grid. Rui Miritta, from Monteiros Competições, was clearly the best of the 991.1 group, recording the 10th fastest time.

And when, at dusk, the PSCI safety car left the front of the pack, allowing the first fight of the weekend to begin, expectations were high regarding a possible intense duel between the two Portuguese drivers who occupied the front row. But that did not happen.

Manuel Alves was much faster at the start than Gonçalo Fernandes and clearly maintained the lead at the exit of the first corner, while Fernandes found himself ‘swallowed up’ by an aggressive pack, even dropping to third position when overtaken by Yuri Protasov. In turn, Vasco Barros made a great start and jumped to 4th, immediately catching up with the two drivers in front of him and starting a three-way duel that became one of the highlights of the race.

Manuel Alves clearly took advantage of this battle and increased his lead to 5 seconds, a lead that was undone on the 7th lap when the safety car was deployed due to a spin and exit from the track by André Fernandes in the Porsche 992 GT3 CUP prepared by Veloso Motorsport.

The race resumed two laps later. Manuel Alves was not surprised and maintained the lead, immediately starting to pull away from the trio who returned to the duel for 2nd place. It is worth noting that, as the pack regrouped, Protazov, Fernandes and Barros saw two more drivers close in, the Spaniard Jorge Ramirez (RGB Racing Team) and the Colombian Juan Vega (Hadeca Racing).

A lap later, chaos ensued. Braking hard for a left-hander in the middle of the circuit, Vasco Barros dives into the corner, overtakes Gonçalo Fernandes, but touches Yuri Protazov and the two crash. Fortunately, they managed to get back into the race, but lost a few places, with Protasov in sixth and Barros in tenth place, and both immediately began to recover.

Up front, Manuel Alves drove steadily but calmly, taking the chequered flag with a 5-second advantage over Gonçalo Fernandes, who had meanwhile shaken off the attacks from Ramirez and Vega, securing 2nd place in the race.

The fight for 3rd place went right up to the finish line, with Jorge Ramirez doing everything he could to hold off Juan Vega’s attacks, with the duo starting to worry about Yuri Protasov closing in, who had now moved up to 5th. With 2 laps to go, the three were already close together and, on the last lap, Jorge Ramirez secured 3rd place thanks to the duel between the two Hadeca Racing drivers. Protasov passed his teammate, who returned the maneuver and secured 4th place, ahead of the Ukrainian.

As is obvious, Manuel Alves added to the overall triumph, the victory in group 991.2 and in the PROAM Class. Gonçalo Fernandes won in the AM Class and Jorge Ramirez in Group 992.

6th overall, Ukrainian Oleksandr Dobik took one of Hadeca Racing’s Porsche 992 GT3 CUPs to supremacy in the GD Class, while Rui Miritta, 8th overall, won with authority in Group 991.1. It is worth noting that Francisca Queiroz was once again not only the best female driver, but also put the 992 GT3 Cup from Orbital Ignition Racing Team in the Top 10 of the race.

Race 2: Borja Garcia wins ‘at home’ and ends Manuel Alves’ unbeaten run

In the eighth race of the season, the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica saw a new winner: Borja Garcia. The Spanish driver was literally racing in “his own backyard”. The Valencian driver had the handicap of not having even driven the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Equipo GT Corse in practice, where it was always in the hands of his teammate Alejandro Barambio.

The starting grid alignment – ​​with the distribution of places being determined by the classification of Race 1, with the first 8 positions being inverted – meant that Borja Garcia occupied one of the places on the front row, alongside Vasco Barros, who was awarded pole position, thanks to his 8th place in Saturday’s race. Behind the duo, the Ukrainians Dobik and Protasov filled the 2nd row of the grid, Vega and Ramirez the 3rd and Fernandes and Alves were in 4th. With a suit of this caliber, the start promised to be intense and so did the race. And the predictions did not disappoint.

At the start, Borja Garcia was the strongest, turning into the first left-hander ahead of Vasco Barros, who immediately lost another position, being overtaken by Yuri Protasov. Meanwhile, Manuel Alves climbed four positions, rising to 4th overall, closing in on Barros and Protasov, suggesting that he was already staging one of his usual imperial comebacks in the second PSCI races.

But it was immediately clear that Borja Garcia’s pace was impressive. The Valencian escaped the trio chasing him and increased his advantage lap after lap, while Manuel Alves moved up to 3rd place, swapping with his teammate, at the end of the first lap, starting to attack Protasov’s 2nd place, overtaking the Ukrainian driver at the start of the 3rd lap, immediately managing to separate himself from the Hadeca Racing driver, who now had to face Vasco Barros, Jorge Ramirez and Juan Vega in a battle for 3rd place.

1.6 seconds was the difference that separated the leader, Borja Garcia, from the pursuer, Manuel Alves at the end of the 3rd lap and there was still a lot of racing to do. In the following laps, the Portuguese driver pushed the pace and managed to reduce the gap by around 1 second, on the 6th lap of the race, but as time and laps went by, the rear tyres of the LOB Motorsport 991.2 GT3 Cup began to lose effectiveness, while Borja Garcia maintained a strong pace, without errors, and once again pulled away until he took the chequered flag alone, with a 3.2-second advantage over Manuel Alves, achieving a victory that was as precious as it was fair in his debut in the PSCI, ending his opponent’s unbeaten run.

Borja Garcia added to his overall victory the triumph in Group 992 and in the PROAM Class, while Manuel Alves added another triumph in Group 991.2 to his tally.

Meanwhile, on the same lap number 6, Vasco Barros managed to overtake Yuri Protasov and took 3rd place, a position he would hold until the end. Protasov, Vega and Ramirez were joined by the Portuguese driver Gonçalo Fernandes, forming a quartet in the fight for 4th place.

As the laps went by, the tires also started to be a decisive factor. Protasov and Veja shook off the pressure from their two rivals, with the Hadeca Racing duo even managing to get close to Vasco Barros again, while Gonçalo Fernandes overtook Jorge Ramirez and moved up to 6th place.

Yuri Protasov even overtook Vasco Barros, crossing the finish line in 3rd, but a triple penalty totaling 15 seconds for exceeding the track limits several times dropped the driver to 5th place, with Vasco Barros regaining 3rd place and Juan Vega aiming to move up to 4th place.

Oleksandr Dobik took home another trophy for his new victory in the GD Class, having finished 9th overall in Race 2. Rui Miritta was once again the strongest in Group 991.1, finishing the race in the Top 10 overall, ahead of Francisca Queiroz, the best female.

Regarding the weekend’s results, José Monroy, leader of P21 Motorsport, highlighted “the excellence of the spectacle that our championship provided to the more than ten thousand spectators who came to the circuit. We had two different winners, great battles in the middle of the pack and an excellent level of organisation. These are weekends like this that motivate us to try to do more and better in the future!”.

The Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica now moves full steam ahead to Jerez de La Frontera, where the 5th round will take place, scheduled for 5 and 6 October.