Manuel Alves wins Race 1 in Jerez de La Frontera and is champion

Manuel Alves was the great dominator of the race, achieving his 9th overall triumph of the season and, in addition to winning the individual title, he also helped his team, LOB Motorsport, win the Teams title.

On a sunny afternoon where the heat was a factor to be taken into account, the Angel Nieto Circuit, in Jerez de La Frontera, was the stage for the awarding of two of the titles under discussion in the 2024 edition of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica. On the other hand, he saw the fight for the scepter in Group 992 become even more intense.

The journey was marked by the absence of Vasco Barros. The young Portuguese from LOB Motorsport attended the Andalusian circuit, but unfortunately received news of the death of a family member and immediately returned to Portugal. José Monroy, PSCI series manager, expressed “the deep sadness we feel. The Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica family sends our condolences and solidarity to Vasco and the Barros family at this difficult time.”

On the track, this first day of competition took place under the sign of Manuel Alves’ dominance, especially in the two most important moments: Qualifying and Race 1.

The young Portuguese from LOB Motorsport took pole position, with Gonçalo Fernandes (Veloso Motorsport) close behind, just 290 thousandths of a second behind. Juan Vega (Hadeca Racing) was the 3rd fastest and the best of the 992 group, while Rui Miritta was the fastest among the 991.1, being 9th in absolute terms.

 

Race 1: Manuel Alves from start to finish

Closing the competitive schedule on the first day of another Napa Racing Weekend, Race 1 of the PSCI was dominated by Manuel Alves.

Not allowing himself to be surprised at the flying start, the driver of the LOB Motorsport Porsche 991.2 took control and soon began to build a comfortable advantage, systematically being the fastest, even establishing, on the sixth pass across the finish line, what would become the best lap of the race, turning then in 1:47.608.

In the end, he received the checkered flag with a 6.8 second advantage over Gonçalo Fernandes, dedicating the victory in the overall, in Group 991.2 and in the PROAM Class and the title won “to my companion Vasco Barros and his family, to whom I send my friendship and my condolences.”

In turn, Gonçalo Fernandes had to apply himself intensely to achieve 2nd place overall and victory in the AM Class. Fernandes completely missed the start, being overtaken by Yuri Protasov and only the boldness with which he approached braking for the initial curve prevented greater harm.

The Portuguese driver from Veloso Motorsport immediately began to put pressure on the Ukrainian from Hadeca Racing, who defended himself gallantly, but was unable to prevent the overtaking, which took place in the first part of the 28-minute + 1 lap race.

As soon as he overtook Protasov, Gonçalo Fernandes began to distance himself and arrived at the end of the race with a 14-second advantage over the Ukrainian, with the latter having no difficulty in holding on to 3rd place overall and victory in Group 992.

A fierce fight also took place in the discussion for 4th place overall. Spaniards Jorge Ramirez (RGC Racing Team) and Ignacio Cabezas (CD Heads Racing Team) starred in it. Cabezas was not intimidated by the fact that it was his PSCI debut and, having started from the 4th row of the grid, he quickly increased the pace of his Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, climbing several positions and even ending up at the back of Ramirez’s 992. , but he stopped the attacks and, in the final part of the race, still shook off the pressure, securing 4th place, with Cabezas finishing in 5th.

Author of a consistent performance, the Portuguese André Fernandes (Veloso Motorsport) was 6th, ahead of the Colombian Juan Vega (Hadeca Racing), who won the ‘bean of the day’. 3rd on the starting grid, Vega dropped to fourth place at the start and just after the last corner of the opening lap, he spun which relegated him to 10th place, before beginning a recovery which would see him climb up to 7th place.

Rui Miritta fought for supremacy in the GD Class, starring in a very interesting duel with Ukrainian Oleksandr Dobik (Hadeca Racing).

Miritta was stronger in the first part of the race, but the Monteiros Competições driver was unable to stop the attacks from his opponent, who would make the most of the greater competitiveness of his Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, against the Portuguese driver’s 999.2 GT3 Cup. The two completed the race in 8th and 9th place, respectively.

After another error-free and very effective race, Francisca Queiroz took the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup to 10th place, achieving a double Top 6 in the 992 Group and AM Class.

This Sunday, the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica will have a warm-up session (20 minutes long) at 10:25 am, culminating the competition’s presence in Jerez with Race 2 (28 minutes plus 1 lap), which is scheduled to start at 3:00 pm. hours (Spanish time zone).