Six wins out of a possible six for Manuel Alves in the 2024 edition of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica. In Aragon, the LOB Motorsport driver exerted overwhelming dominance, increasingly becoming a major contender for the titles in Group 991.2 and in the PROAM Class.

The double round in Aragon was marked by intense battles in the middle of the pack, with the distribution of victories in the remaining groups and classes standing out. Among the 992s and in the AM Class, Yuri Protasov was the strongest in Race 1, while Jorge Ramirez repeated this double feat in Race 2. Jorge Brioso and Rui Miritta shared the victories in Group 991.1, while Oleksandr Dobik achieved the ‘double’ in Class GD.

The Motorland Circuit in Aragon hosted the third round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica 2024 in very hot weather. The presence of drivers from five nations, namely Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Portugal, was a highlight, demonstrating the growing internationalisation of the competition, which has P21 Motorsport as an official partner.

And from the Qualifying round, held early on Saturday afternoon, it was clear that Manuel Alves was at the Motorland circuit to continue the total dominance he has enjoyed this season. The LOB Motorsport driver secured pole position for Race 1, recording a time of 2’00’808, and was the only driver to manage to lap under 2’01. Right behind him, the Argentinian Luciano Martinez crowned his debut in the PSCI with the second best time, thus placing the Porsche 992 GT3 CUP of MRS GT-Racing on the front row and indicating that he could be one of the protagonists of the weekend in the fight for the overall and in the personal accounts of the 992 group.

Tiago Gonçalves, who shared the Porsche 991.2 of Monteiros Competições in Aragon with the Brazilian Rafa Dias, secured for his team one of the places on the 2nd row of the starting grid of Race 1, with the remaining one going to Vasco Barros, Manuel Alves’ teammate. Rui Miritta was the fastest of the 991.1 Group in qualifying, thus starting the weekend in the best possible way.

Race 1: Manuel Alves wins in isolation, the fight for 2nd place is fierce

The 14.5-second lead enjoyed by Manuel Alves at the end of the 15 laps of Race 1 is a good example of the Portuguese driver’s dominance. Not allowing himself to be caught off guard by the pack at the start, Alves immediately began to leave his pursuers behind, successively setting the best lap times, eventually setting the best time of the race on his 10th pass over the finish line, clocking a time of 2:00.758. In the final laps, he went into tyre management mode, such was his advantage, and crowned a perfect Saturday, winning and convincingly taking the overall lead in Group 991.1 and in the PROAM Class.

Behind him, the battle for the remaining two places on the overall podium was intense. A quartet took the lead in the fight, at different stages of the race. At the start, Brazilian Rafa Dias, who started from the 2nd row, thanks to the time set by Tiago Gonçalves, put the Monteiros Competições 991.2 in 2nd position, with Luciano Martinez and Yuri Protasov behind him, while Vasco Barros widened his trajectory at turn 1 and dropped to 7th.

On the 3rd lap, Martinez overtook Dias, recovering 2nd place, with the Brazilian also being immediately overtaken by Protasov, thus dropping two places in one go. The battle between the three continued intense, with Vasco Barros also starting to close in, having already recovered two positions, running in 5th place. From the middle of the race, Luciano Martinez and Yuri Protasov pulled away from Rafa Dias and the Argentine and the Ukrainian engaged in a relentless duel for second place that lasted until the end, with Martinez taking the chequered flag ahead of Protasov, but dropping to third place thanks to a 10-second penalty (5 + 5) for exceeding the track limits twice. Protasov was also penalized, but only 5 seconds, because he exceeded the limits only once.

Martinez also enjoyed victory in Group 992 and in the AM Class, where Protasov came second, while Portuguese driver Ricardo Costa, in a 992 GT3 Cup from MRS GT-Racing, secured a double third place, to which he added a positive 5th place overall.

Meanwhile, Rafa Dias began to worry about Vasco Barros’ approach, with the Portuguese driver’s 991.2 GT3 Cup closing in on the back of Rafa Dias’ car, overtaking him during the 8th lap of the race and soon beginning to build up a good lead over the Brazilian driver. Barros crossed the finish line in 4th place overall, corresponding to 2nd place between the 991.2 and PROAM, a position he momentarily lost due to a 10-second penalty for a double track limits violation, but he would regain the place, as Rafa Dias would be disqualified due to a technical violation.

In the GD Category, Rui Miritta was the first leader, but during the opening lap Oleksandr Dobik (Porsche 992 GT3 CUP) took the lead. The Ukrainian from Hadeca Racing would win unopposed, while the Portuguese driver from Monteiros Competições was forced to abandon the race due to problems with his Porsche 991.1 GT3 CUP. With Miritta’s withdrawal, Jorge Brioso and Filipe Nascimento secured 2nd and 3rd place in the Class, respectively, with Brioso winning in the 991.1 Group, ahead of Nascimento. The pair finished the race separated by just over 2 seconds.

A special mention to Francisca Queirós, who took the Porsche 992 GT3 CUP from Orbital Ignition Racing Team to 9th place overall.

Race 2: Manuel Alves ‘jumped’ from 8th to 1st in 5 laps and then… he was gone

There was great anticipation for the 2nd Race of the weekend, held early on Sunday afternoon. The starting grid reflected the classification of the opening race, with the first eight positions reversed, which predicted a great fight for the top spots. André Fernandes and the Veloso Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 Cup took pole position, with Spaniard Jorge Ramirez at his side, in a 992 GT3 Cup with the RGB Racing Team colours. Spread across the following rows were the protagonists of the previous race and candidates for victory in this new clash, with Vasco Barros and Luciano Martinez on the 3rd row, while Manuel Alves and Yuri Protasov occupied positions on the fourth.

The start went off without incident, with André Fernandes holding the lead, ahead of Ramirez and Ricardo Costa, who had started on the second row. Meanwhile, Vasco Barros immediately moved up to 4th place and, during the first lap, overtook the leading trio and took the lead. Further back, Manuel Alves was cautious at the start, but soon began to climb places, finishing the first lap in 5th place.

Once in the lead, Vasco Barros immediately began to separate himself from his pursuers, at a time when Jorge Ramirez and Luciano Martinez had moved up to 2nd and 3rd respectively, with André Fernandes dropping to 4th, a position he would lose on the 2nd lap to Manuel Alves, and it was clear that the LOB Motorsport driver was on a mission where his focus was on doing everything he could to take the lead in the race.

In just two laps, Manuel Alves overtook Martinez and Ramirez and took another lap to catch up with Vasco Barros, overtaking him at the end of the inner straight of the circuit, setting a time of 2:01.312 on the 5th lap, which would be the fastest lap of the race. From then on, the fate of victory in Race 2 was sealed. Manuel Alves pushed the pace and gradually began to overtake Vasco Barros, reaching the final phase of the race with a lead that, once again, allowed him to manage the race and win his sixth ‘triple’ of the season: Overall, Group 991.2 and PROAM Class.

Vasco Barros would also run comfortably in 2nd place until the end, thus contributing to a tasty ‘one-two’ for LOB Motorsport, also finishing second among the 991.2 and PROAM.

Meanwhile, the fight for 3rd place between Luciano Martinez and Jorge Ramirez was short-lived, as the Argentine driver was forced to head to the pits, retiring due to technical problems with his 992 GT3 CUP, joining Yuri Protasov who also only completed a couple of laps. Jorge Ramirez put in an excellent performance, which was rewarded with his first overall podium in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica, winning in Group 992 and in the AM Category, a result that was much celebrated by the Spanish driver and the RGB Racing Team.

Master of a race that went from back to front, Colombian Juan Veja put the 992 GT3 Cup from MRS GT-Racing in 5th place, ahead of his teammate Ricardo Costa. The two also completed the podiums in Group 992 and Class AM.

In Class GD, Oleksandr Dobik prevailed once again. The Ukrainian from Hadeca Racing still faced some opposition from the Portuguese Rui Miritta, but the greater advantage of his Porsche 992 GT3 CUP over Miritta’s 991.1 GT3 CUP would end up being the decisive factor in the victory. However, Miritta had every reason to be satisfied, as he not only finished second in the GD, but also won the 999.1 group, ahead of Filipe Nascimento and Jorge Brioso, with Nascimento also claiming 3rd place in the GD.

Francisca Queirós repeated her ‘dose’ from Saturday. The youngster soon got involved in the fight for a place in the Top 10, finishing in 9th place again. Increasingly competitive with the Porsche 992 from the Orbital Ignition Racing Team, ‘Kika’ Queirós is on a rise in form that bodes well for the upcoming races.

The Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica is now entering its summer break. The competition will return on the 14th and 15th of September, with the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia hosting the fourth round of the season.