Daniel Teixeira (JT59 Racing Team, CUPRA TCR) was the winner of the first 45-minute race of the second round of the SuperCars Endurance Series, this Sunday morning, at Estoril Autodrome, beating Jorge Silva/Pedro Silva (Audi RS 3 LMS) by more than 6 seconds, in a morning where the TCR class cars overcame the GT4 cars in the absolute classification, as it happened in the qualifying. In absolute terms, the third place on the podium went to the Spanish duo of McLaren 570S and first of GT4 Pro, Guillermo Aso/Gonzalo de Andrés.
"Since qualifying I felt I had the car to win, even though the other TCRs were close. At the start, due to the power difference, I lost out to the GT4 and riding very close to them I overheated the brakes. I had to lift my foot a little to be able to attack in the second half of the race. From the moment I got in front, I just managed to manage the advantage. But it wasn't an easy race", explained Daniel Teixeira, who clearly dominated the TCR class, and if Gustavo Moura and Luís Cidade's Hyundai Elantra N was still in the fight, in the second half of the race it would be forced to give up, due to the breakage of the right rear shock absorber. But in the same class, the duo Jorge Silva/Pedro Silva, in Audi RS 3 LMS from Veloso Motorsport, revealed to be a pleasant surprise and never gave Teixeira much slack.
"At the driver change I managed to get out well, but the Hyundai Elantra spun in front of me and made me lose some time, being overtaken by Daniel Teixeira. Then, I managed to keep the pace and achieve, in the end, a very good result", said Paulo Silva.
Who wouldn't expect to start the day in Estoril with a victory in the GT4 Pro class was the Spanish duo from SMC Motorsport, third in the absolute classification. "Of course I'm very happy with this triumph. At the beginning we were behind, and we were absolute sixth, but the entry of the safety-car helped us, within two laps, to reduce the gap. And when I took control of the car, I adopted a strong pace that allowed us to win. I honestly didn't expect it," confided Gonzalo de Andrés.
Winner of the GT4 Bronze class, the duo António Coimbra/Luís Silva, in the Sports & You Mercedes AMG, aspired to something more, in absolute terms, after leading almost half of the race, in front of the Bullitt Racing Mercedes AMG. "I still can't understand what happened, because since António [Coimbra] gave me the car, at a time when we would be in the absolute first place, and I went out to the track, he was only overtaken by one car...", regretted Luís Silva.
Even without having the opportunity to make the practice sessions, due to electrical problems in the JC Group Racing Team's Mercedes AMG, the José Correia/Gabriela Correia duo left the last place of the grid and only stopped in the seventh position and in the last place of the podium in the GT4 Bronze class, behind the Lithuanian Andrius Zemaitis (PROGT, Porsche 981 Cayman).
The Ginetta G50 of Tockwith Motorsport driven by Paulo Sousa and Gemma Moore, despite some mishaps at the beginning (a spin that took it to the gravel), ended up winning the GTC class, ahead of Pedro Marques (Moby Motorsport, Porsche 911 Cup), who struggled, while Francisco Gonçalves saw his Lotus Exige of 888_Motorsport simply stop working at turn 1, leading to the entry of the safety car.
The Porsche 981 Cayman of Garagem João Gomes, GT4 Pro class, given to João Silva/Nicolas Pino, ended up packing its bags and heading home, as, after a small fire in the exhaust system, a part of the wiring harness was quite damaged, making unsuccessful the efforts of the team, which was still trying to solve the problem until Sunday morning.
Race 1
1º, JT59 Racing Team, Daniel Teixeira (CUPRA TCR/TCR), 45:41.740
2º, Veloso Motorsport, Jorge Silva/Pedro Silva (Audi RS 3 LMS/TCR), + 6.960
3º, SMC Motorsport, Guillermo Aso/Gonzalo de Andrés (McLaren 570S/GT4 PRO), + 13.785
4º, Sport & You, António Coimbra/Luís Silva (Mercedes AMG/GT4 BRONZE), + 21.234
5º, PROGT, Andrius Zemaitis (Porsche 981 Cayman/GT4 BRONZE), + 33.837
6º, Bullitt Racing, Stephen Pattrick/Romain Monti (Mercedes AMG/GT4 PRO), + 38.337
7º, JC Group Racing Team, José Correia/Gabriela Correia (Mercedes AMG/GT4 BRONZE), + 44.078
8º, Tockwith Motorsport, Paulo Sousa/Gemma Moore (Ginetta G50/GTC), + 1.09.03
9º, Grupo TDS, Manuel Sousa/Luís Silva (CUPRA TCR), + 2 voltas
10º, º, Moby Motorsport, Pedro Marques (Porsche 911 Cup/GTC), + 2 voltas
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