The Iberian Supercars Endurance kicks off this weekend (May 14/15) at Circuito del Jarama (Spain), has the privilege of having on its entry list, among other leading names, Manuel Gião, one of the most successful Portuguese drivers who does not hide his excitement to comeback to GT racing.
"The championship will start here at Jarama and I still remember that I am the driver with the most victories [26] in the Spanish GT Championship," said the Lisbon-born driver, who raced for several years in Spain, after a career in the entry-level formulas.
"It makes all the sense in the world of circuit racing, with GT and Touring cars all together, like this one, between Portugal and Spain, an Iberian competition that brings together experienced drivers and younger ones, recreating what happened in the past and with great success," added Gião, who in recent seasons has dedicated himself to competing in one-make series in Portugal, where since 2018 he has been an official KIA driver.
Now, at Jarama, at the start of the CPV, Manuel Gião feels like a kind of "rookie", confessing: "Of course I feel some excitement, it's like driving a GT car for the first time. After many years driving a front-wheel drive cars, this weekend I will have to go back to rear-wheel drive. As far as I'm concerned, they're all exciting to drive and I think the more power a car has, the easier it is to drive."
For this first round of the season, the driver who will team up with Finnish driver Elias Niskanen in car number 2, entered by the Slovenian Lema Racing team, prefers not to set himself any targets: "The priority will be to try to adapt as quickly as possible, and calmly, to the car, to see how far I can go. I already know that I have a good engineer, as I have worked with him several times during my career, and that gives me confidence. On a track with the characteristics of Jarama it is essential to have good traction and to get a good result, it will be crucial to find a good set-up of the car in collaboration with my teammate. The championship is long and I think it is very important to score points in every race," concluded Manuel Gião.
Comments