Vila Real: Free Practice Confirms Ultra-Competitive Field

The opening three free practice sessions for the Vila Real round of the Supercars Endurance series, counting towards the Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade and forming part of the 55th ruling of the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real, confirmed the exceptionally competitive field expected throughout the remainder of the weekend. In the final and quickest session of the day, the top three crews were covered by less than one second, setting the stage for closely fought qualifying and races.

Despite the soaring temperatures throughout Friday, a large crowd was already in attendance at Vila Real, both in the paddock and around the iconic street circuit, creating the unique atmosphere that has long defined this historic ‘Transmontano’ venue.

The opening session took place early in the morning with the circuit still very dusty, while the second was run in the hottest part of the day. The final session, held late in the afternoon, benefited from a cleaner track surface and cooler conditions, allowing for a significant improvement in lap times.

GT4 – Fight for the Top Intensifies

In the GT4 category, the GT4 Pro class once again proved to be exceptionally closely matched. After César Machado and Pedro Salvador, driving the Toyota GR Supra EVO2, topped the opening session, and Francisco Mora and Rodrigo Almeida, also in a Supra, set the pace in the second, the Speedy Motorsport pairing returned to the top in the final session with a benchmark lap of 2m01.906s—just 0.108s quicker than the Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal crew.

In GT4 Pro-Bronze, José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu of Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal suffered a contact incident in FP1 but recovered to finish the day as fastest in class and third overall with a 2m02.655s lap. António Veloso and former Vila Real race winner Patrick Cunha, in the Veloso Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4, were second in class, while series returnee Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina placed the Batina Racing Toyota third.

Vasco Oliveira and returning driver Manuel Gião, at the wheel of the RACAR Motorsport-run Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO, led the GT4 Bronze category by setting the class benchmark of 2m03.872s in the final session, good enough for fifth overall after also topping the class in the second session. Ricardo Costa and Bruno Pires, driving the Speedy Motorsport Porsche Cayman CS RS, finished just behind, with André and Miguel Nabais completing the class top three aboard the Gianfranco Motorsport Toyota.

Also worthy of note was the appearance of Rúben Vaquinhas, competing as a solo driver in the Gianfranco Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 entered in the GT4 Am class.

GTC – Thousandths Make the Difference

Among the GTX entries, Vila Real street circuit newcomers Gabriel Caçoilo and Ángel Santos, representing Chefo Sport by Petrogold in the Ligier JS2 R, confirmed the pace they had shown throughout the day by setting the fastest class time in the decisive session. They edged out Pompeu Simões and his new teammate Pedro Alves, driving the Speedy Motorsport Porsche Cayman CS, by just 0.015s. Artur Ferreira and José Maria Marreiros secured third in class with the Veloso Motorsport Ligier in front of the two TSR Team McLaren 570 GT4 cars.

In the Cup class, local driver André Fernandes (AF Motorsport) placed his Porsche 911 Cup at the top of the timesheets, ahead of Vítor Costa (Monteiros Competições) and Adam Fawsitt (Art of Speed).

Touring Cars – Margins Measured in Thousandths

In TC+, Daniel Teixeira (JT59 Racing Team), eighth quickest overall, maintained the dominance he had shown since the start of running, once again setting the fastest class time in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR. He finished ahead of Belgium’s Charles Valentiny and Luxemburg’s Michel Fernandes, who continued to build experience aboard their Peugeot 308 TCR.

After taking part only in the final session of the day, Frederico Formiga, driving the Art of Speed SEAT León Supercopa MK2 entered in the TC class, closed to within striking distance of the second-fastest TC+ runner.

Meanwhile, rookie driver Cláudio Pereira suffered a heavy accident on the Mateus downhill section, with the impact leaving his BMW M2 Racing too badly damaged to be repaired in time, forcing BeFast Motorsport to withdraw from the remainder of the weekend.

With track conditions steadily improving throughout the day and only the smallest margins separating the leading contenders, all the ingredients are in place for an enthralling qualifying session and two fiercely contested races on the streets of Vila Real.

Qualifying gets underway tomorrow from 11:00, with live coverage on Race Ready's social media channels. The opening race of the weekend is scheduled for 18:00 and will be broadcast live on DAZN Portugal and DAZN Spain.