The first race of the Supercars Jarama RACE Circuit was exciting until the very end, with Nerea Martí and José de los Milagros, in a BMW M4 GT4, crossing the finish line in first. However, with a dramatic end, the victory of the race ended up in the hands of NM Racing Team’s Alba Cano and Andy Cantú.
The BMW Motorsport España driver Nerea Martí had a good start from pole position, keeping her advantage but was closely followed by Guillermo Aso and Salvador Tineo, both driving Mercedes AMG GT4s, the former from NM Racing Team and the latter from Team VRT, with this trio staying very close throughout the early laps.
The first incident occurred when Dave Benett in his Tockwith Motorsport Porsche 911 Cup car, while attempting to overtake Rafael Muncharaz’s McLaren Barcelona – SMC Motorsport McLaren 570S GT4, hitting the British made car. The Guld-liveried McLaren limped to the pits, leaking coolant onto the track.
Guillermo Aso was one of the first to pass through the Monza Corner, encountering the fluid lost by the McLaren, which caused him to spin, promoting Salvador Tineo to second. Right after, the Team VRT driver started closing in on Nerea Martí's BMW and began pressuring the BMW Motorsport España youngster driver as the mandatory pit stop period began.
Salvador Tineo quickly entered the pits, handing over the green coloured Mercedes AMG GT4 to Luis Gonzalez, while the Promotion Motorsport-run BMW extended its stint before passing the controls of the car to José de los Milagros.
Carrying a three-second handicap due to finishing third in the second race in Jerez, de los Milagros rejoined about two seconds behind Gonzalez's Mercedes AMG.
The BMW driver consistently closed in on the leader and, after several attempts to move into first, managed to complete the overtake on the eighteenth lap, taking the lead.
Luis Gonzalez was then overtaken by Andy Cantu, who teamed up with Alba Cano in one of NM Racing Team's Mercedes AMG cars. The top two increased their pace, with José de los Milagros setting the fastest lap of the race – 1m38.671s, breaking last year's record set by Manuel Gião, 1m38.926s – but the distance between the two remained stable.
José de los Milagros thus drove to victory, with his rival about four seconds behind, but the race ended with a bang.
The BMW Motorsport España driver lifted off as he crossed the finish line to celebrate with his team, and, not realizing it, Andy Cantu, still pushing at full speed, tapped the rear of the BMW, causing significant damage to both cars, though the drivers were unhurt.
In the end of the race, de los Milagros received a 34-second penalty by the Stewards of the Meeting, dropping to fourth.
Gonzalez crossed the finish line in third, being promoted to second later in the day. Filip Vava and Guillermo Aso were third, while Portuguese duo Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina, in a BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Batina Racing, saw the checkered flag in fifth place.
The GT4 Bronze was hotly contested by the BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Autoworks Motorsport and the NM Racing Team’s Mercedes AMG GT4 number 115.
Borja Garcia managed to lead in the first part of the race, keeping a respectable distance from Alberto de Martín until the driver change. However, in the second half, Nil Montserrat was faster than Héctor Hernández, with the NM Racing Team car winning over the Autoworks Motorsport duo, who finished second.
Pedro Herraiz and Samuel Gomez put on a good performance, taking the RX Pro Racing Hyundai i30 TCR to eighth place.
Former Supercars GTC Champion Jemma Moore and former FPAK Junior Team driver Henrique Cruz took the Tockwith Motorsport Ginetta G55 to the GTX division win.
Series newcomers Keith Gatehouse and Igor Sorokin, in NM Racing Team’s Mercedes AMG GT4, were the strongest in the GT4 Am field, beating Promotion Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4 drivers Smörg and Javier Macias, who are in process of learning the driving of the BMW M4 GT4.
Rui Miritta was the best in the Cup division, after a tough start during which he fell to last place. The Monteiros Competições driver made a good recovery, also benefiting from his rivals’ penalty – due to the incident with Rafael Muncharaz’s McLaren – to triumph in his division.
Filipe Matias continued to deliver good performances at the wheel of Monteiros Competições' Ginetta G40, seeing the checkered flag in his first race with the small and agile English car.
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