The large crowd that gathered today at the Autódromo do Estoril witnessed a surprise in the second race of this weekend's Iberian Supercars and Campeonato de Portugal de Velocidade, with Daniel Teixeira, in a Hyundai Elantra N TCR, securing the victory.
The JT59 Racing Team driver started from the twenty-second position on the grid, finding himself involved in the intense mid-pack battles among nearly forty cars, never imagining that by the end of the race, he could step onto the top podium.
However, shortly before the window for mandatory pit stops opened, there was an incident between the Porsche Cayman RS CS GT4 of the Nabais brothers and the Ginetta G50 of Simon Moore and Tomás Pinto Abreu.
Sensing that the Safety Car might be called, Daniel Teixeira quickly headed to the pits for his stop before the pit lane closed. This proved to be a strategic decision, as the JT59 Racing Team driver’s anticipation was correct, putting him in a privileged position.
When the race resumed and all drivers completed their respective pit stops, Daniel Teixeira was in the lead with a comfortable advantage over his pursuers, securing an opportunistic victory, thanks to a strong pace in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR.
Rui Miritta and Tiago Gonçalves, in a Porsche 911 from Monteiros Competições, and Ruben Vaquinhas and Pedro Bastos Rezende stopped at the same time as the JT59 Racing Team driver, giving them a valuable advantage for the second half of the race.
The Portuguese-speaking duo in the German car crossed the finish line in second, winning the Cup division, while the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #777 duo from Racar Motorsport finished third, as the best cars in the GT4 category, winning the GT4 Am division. Igor Sorokin and Keith Gatehouse in a Mercedes AMG GT4 from NM Racing Team, and Rafael Muncharaz in a McLaren 570S GT4 from SMC Motorsport, completed the podium.
In a highly animated race with several on-track battles, the drivers who usually compete for the overall victory, the GT4 Pro competitors, had to settle for the “crumbs,” with Bronze driver Manuel Gião and Silver driver Mathieu Martins in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 from Racar Motorsport finishing in fourth place.
Bernardo Sousa and Carlos Vieira, after a morning victory, took the Toyota Supra GR GT4 from Toyota Gazoo Racing Caetano Portugal to second place in the division, beating the BMW M4 GT4 from BMW Motorsport España driven by Nerea Martí and José de los Milagros.
After the morning’s disappointment when a penalty took away their second place in the GT4 Bronze division, Stepan Suslov won the GT4 Bronze in the second race of the day with an excellent performance in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 from Mirage Racing.
Nil Montserrat and Alberto de Martín started from the pole position in the division but had to bow to the young Mirage Racing driver's good pace, with Borja Hormigos and Héctor Hernández taking the lowest podium step in the BMW M4 GT4 (F82) from Autoworks Motorsport.
Aubrey Hall and Henrique Cruz once again dominated in GTX, having a near-perfect weekend with two wins and a pole position, beating the very consistent Andrius Zemaitis in a Porsche Cayman MR GT4 prepared by Speedy Motorsport, and Sebastién Villadary and Álvaro Vela in a Ligier JS2R from Chefo Sport, who faced gearbox problems at the end of the race.
Now entering the summer break, the Iberian Supercars returns in Valencia on September 28-29 at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portugal).
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