The second race of the Estoril Season Finale by NAPA was once again dramatic, culminating in José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu being crowned GT4 Pro Champions in Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina's maiden victory.
After the morning race, the Speedy Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 duo needed a second-place finish to secure the title, regardless of the outcome for their major rivals – Nuno Pires and Elias Niskanen, driving the Lema Racing Mercedes AMG GT4.
Jan Duran, in the NM Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT4, started from pole position. However, at the start, Orlando Batina, in the Batina Racing BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from the third position, had a better start when the lights went out, taking the lead in the first corner. He was followed by the pole-sitter, Patrick Cunha, in the Veloso Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4, with the two title contenders, Elias Niskanen and Francisco Abreu, following in the next positions.
This group, also including Nil Montserrat (NM Racing Team Mercedes), raced at high speed, separated by a couple of seconds. Jan Duran, attempting to overtake Orlando Batina, and Elias Niskanen, eager to surpass Patrick Cunha, were the most aggressive.
Close to the driver change window, the Spanish team's recruit took the lead, while the Finn moved up to third place, enhancing his chances of winning the championship.
In this scenario, the cars visited the pits. When all driver changes were completed, Nuno Pires, partnered with Elias Niskanen in the Lema Racing Mercedes AMG, led the race, followed by Guillermo Aso in the Mercedes shared with Jan Duran, Sérgio Azevedo in the Batina Racing BMW M4 GT4, Francisco Cruz in the Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT4 shared with Pedro Perino, and José Carlos Pires in fifth.
In this situation, the title seemed to be slipping away from José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, as Nuno Pires and Elias Niskanen looked set to clinch it. However, two laps later, Guillermo Aso made a mistake while overtaking a backmarker, missed the braking point, and collided with Nuno Pires' Mercedes AMG, sending it into a spin.
Definitely delayed and with no prospect of winning the title, Nuno Pires entered the pits to retire, handing the championship to José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, who managed to move up to third place.
Guillermo Aso would eventually cross the finish line in first place ahead of Sérgio Azevedo. However, after the race, the Spaniard was penalized with a five-second penalty for his role in the incident with Nuno Pires, dropping him to sixth place, as a late Safety Car compacted the field.
Sérgio Azevedo and Orlando Batina were thus declared winners of the season's final race, followed by José Carlos Pires and Francisco Abreu, who celebrated the title on the podium. Francisco Cruz and Pedro Perino finished in the third position driving the Racar Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.
Alberto de Martín and Nil Montserrat, in the NM Racing Mercedes AMG, won the GT4 Bronze class. However, it was insufficient to prevent Jorge Rodrigues and Patrick Cunha from securing the Iberian Supercars Endurance title, finishing in second place.
Luís Calheiro and Paulo Macedo, in the Lema Racing Mercedes AMG GT4, had a solid race and secured third place, ahead of Gabriela Correia – also in a Stuttgart car, but from the JC Group Racing Team – who put on an impressive performance from eighteenth place.
Following a remarkable morning recovery that took him to second place, Daniel Teixeira, starting from the pole position in the TCR, won his division, clinching the respective titles and also the Touring Cars titles in both championships.
The JT59 Racing Team Cupra TCR driver was joined on the podium by the father-son duo father-and-son Paulo Silva and Guilherme Silva, in the PDauto Audi RS3 LMS TCR, and father-and-daughter José Correia and Beatriz Correia, in the JC Group Racing Team Cupra TCR.
Borja Hormigos and Héctor Hérnandez, in the Autoworks Motorsport-run BMW M240i Racing, concluded the season perfectly with another triumph in TC, securing both titles in their division – the Iberian Supercars Endurance and Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade.
The Spanish duo was joined on the TC podium by the pairing of Duarte Camelo and Gabriel Caçoilo and Mariana Machado, both in the FPAK Junior Team Ginetta G40s. Duarte Camelo ended up as the highest-placed driver among the young talents supported by the Portuguese ASN.
Álvaro Ramos and Fernando Soares, in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR, won the GTX race, thus securing the titles in their division and the GTC category in both championships. Miguel Nabais and André Nabais, in the Speedy Motorsport McLaren 570S, finished in second place, ahead of Tomás Pinto Abreu and Simon Moore, in the Tockwith Motorsports Ginetta G50, who completed the GTX podium with an impressive performance on a track not very favorable to the English car.
Rui Miritta won the Cup division, benefiting from a penalty for Marcus Fothergill and Dave Benett, who dropped to second place. However, this did not prevent them from securing victory in the division in both the national and Iberian speed championships. João Posser and Miguel Caetano, in the Veloso Motorsport Porsche 911 Cup, completed the podium.
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