HOTLY CONTESTED QUALIFYING AHEAD OF TOMORROW THRILLING RACES

Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal was imperial in qualifying this afternoon, with Francisco Mora and Francisco Abreu taking pole positions for the GT4 races, while Rui Miritta and Daniel Teixeira shared pole positions for the GTC + Touring Car races.

GT4: Under the star of Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal

With the qualifying sessions held today at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, which formed the starting grids for the first round of the Iberian Supercars, Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade and Supercars España, the ‘hostilities’ between teams and drivers opened up and, in this kick-off, it was Francisco Mora and Francisco Abreu who took the lead.

In the first GT4 qualifying session, Mora gave his opponents no chance, setting a time that left all his rivals more than seven tenths of a second behind, with César Machado, also in a Speedy Motorsport Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, coming in second.

In the next position was his team-mate José Carlos Pires, who thus contributed to three Japanese-made cars in the top three places.

The best non-Toyota was the Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 driven by Roberto Faria, who recorded fourth place, closing out a group of three drivers who were separated by just eight tenths of a second.

In fifth place was the best of the GT4 Bronze drivers, with the returning Gonzalo de Andrés taking the McLaren Artura GT4 of McLaren Barcelona - SMC Motorsport to fifth place overall in an excellent performance.

José Cautela, after a difficult start with numerous technical problems with his car, drove the Spanish team's latest Woking machine to eighth place overall, the fastest of the GT4 Pro-Bronze cars.

Ruben Vaquinhas was the strongest in GT4 Am, setting the best time in his division in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 prepared by Gianfranco Motorsport, and was emulated by his team-mate Pedro Bastos Rezende in the second qualifying session.

The same happened in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal, with Francisco Abreu securing pole-position for the second GT4 race, despite a strong threat from Mathieu Martins.

The Racar Motorsport driver drove his Aston Martin to second place on the timesheets, missing the best time by just 0.018s, which shows how tightly contested qualifying was.

Filip Vava, who last year took pole-position for the second race on the programme at Portimão, put in a good performance, taking third overall, which meant he secured the best position among the GT4 Pro-Bronze drivers.

In a field in which the top nine were separated by less than a second, Álvaro Lobera was first among the GT4 Bronze, with the thirteenth fastest time, having lost just over a second and a half to the fastest driver.

GTC + Touring Car: Miritta and Teixeira share pole positions

Qualifying for the Touring and GTC cars saw a huge fight between Rui Miritta and Daniel Teixeira.

In the session that defined the starting grid for the first race, the Hyundai Elantra N TCR driver imposed himself on his opponent, leaving the man in the Monteiros Competições Porsche 911 Cup a mere thirteen thousandths of a second behind.

In the second qualifying session, the roles were reversed in this intense battle, with the reigning GTC Champion beating his opponent, the reigning Touring Car Champion, by 0.393s, and these two drivers were once again on the front row of the grid for tomorrow's second race.

Henrique Moura Oliveira, in a BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Monteiros Competições, was also the factor to take into account in the first qualifying, finishing in third position, the best of the GTXs, just 0.7s behind Daniel Texieira, who was the best of the Touring car field in both challenges.

In the second qualifying session, Duarte Camelo was the best in the GT4 division, which had lost its homologation, placing the Porsche Cayman CS operated by Speedy Motorsport in third place, one and a half seconds behind Rui Miritta, who was the best in Cup every time he took to the track.

In the FPAK Junior Team, the TC division, Martim Romão and João Faria, who are teamed up in Ginetta G40 #101, were the strongest in the first and second qualifying sessions respectively, but there was a strong fight between all the drivers, who were always separated by less than a second.

Tomorrow the four races will be held, all on Sunday with the starting grid split into the GT4 category (11.50 and 16.00 - GMT+1) and the GTC and Touring cars (10.40 and 14.50 - GMT+1).

All the 50-minute races will be broadcast live on DAZN España and DAZN Portugal, as well as on the competition's official social networks, Alpha Live (English), Motorsport Television Deutschland (German) and Parc Férme TV (Italian).