José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu (BMW M4 GT4) won the first race of the Iberian Supercars Endurance sister series Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade in the 52nd running of the Vila Real Street Circuit.
With thousands of people along the circuit and under a bright sun, José Carlos Pires started well from pole-position, taking the lead, followed by Manuel Gião (Mercedes-AMG GT4, Racar Motorsport) and Francisco Carvalho (McLaren 570S GT4, Araújo Competição).
The Speedy Motorsport BMW driver was always in the lead, but under pressure from his pursuers always willing to take advantage of any mistake by the leader.
After the driver changeover, Carlos Vieira, who took over the controls of the Racer car, and Nuno Batista, who received the Araújo Competição machine, were involved in an incident that resulted in the Araújo Competição driver dropping out of the race, and the Racar Motorsport driver falling behind for good. The race was red flagged too.
When the race resumed, after the McLaren had been taken off the track, Francisco Abreu in the Speedy Motorsport BMW was under pressure from Patrick Cunha, but the latter could not find a way to overtake the Madeira Island-native, who crossed the finish line in first, winning, together with his teammate, for the third time this year.
With an excellent performance, Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina, in BMW M4 GT4 (F82) of Batina Racing, was promoted to second due to a penalty to the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Veloso Motorsport driven by Patrick Cunha and Jorge Rodrigues (they did not fulfil pit stop time), with Team VRT’s Manuel Fernandes (Peugeot 308 Racing Cup) taking third overall, winning the Touring car class.
The Vila Real driver saw his task made easier still in the first third of the forty-five minute race, since his main opponent, Daniel Teixeira (Cupra TCR of JT59 Racing Team) DNF with transmission problems.
Spanish duo Borja Hormigos and Héctor Hernández, in Autoworks Motorsport's BMW M240i, and series newcomers Carlos Tavares and Jean-Philippe Imparato, in Team VRT's Peugeot 308 Racing Cup, completed the Touring car podium.
Bruno Pires and Fábio Mota, in Tockwith Motorsports' Ginetta G55 GT4, took the lowest step of the GT4 Pro division podium, while Patrick Cunha and Jorge Rodrigues, in Audi, despite the penalty, won GT4 Bronze ahead of Francisco Carvalho and Nuno Batista, who were classified second in the division.
Álvaro Ramos, in Araújo Competição's Aston Martin Vantage, won the GTC division, while João Vieira, in Garagem Aurora's Porsche 911 Cup, won the Cup division.
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