Racing in Winter
For trackday drivers considering a move into racing, a common question is ‘where should I start?’ With so many different avenues to choose from, knowing which path to take can be confusing. Prolific trackday organiser Gedlich Racing, the promoter of the ‘Endless Summer’ events at circuits across the Iberian Peninsula during the traditional ‘off-season’, has thought long and hard about this problem and responded with the GT Winter Series, which has now finished its third season, and is gearing up for its fourth in December this year.
The 2021-22 GT Winter Series came to a thrilling and entertaining conclusion at the season finale on Sunday 13 March at Barcelona.
GTWS is open to all levels of competitors in a wide range of sportscars from LMP3 and Cn-spec prototypes to GT3 and Porsche Cup cars, plus a separate class for BMW M2 Cup cars. Points are calculated from the results achieved across two 25-minute sprint races and a 45-minute endurance race within different classes. Almost 40 drivers were brought together from across Europe to fight it out, with the crown finally lifted by Schnitzelalm Racing ’s Marcel Marchewicz and Michael Sander, driving a BMW M2 CS.
After a hitherto flawlessly sunny season, heavy rain added a new challenge to qualifying, which was topped by the Monza Garage-prepared Ligier LMP3 of Antonio Teixeira. But the starring role was played by Gabriela Jilkova in the DRAGO Racing ZVO AMG GT4, who lined up in fifth place. Etienne Ploenes, in the RN Vision Cayman GT4 Clubsport, caused a similar sensation in the second qualifying session, as he drove to a fabulous fourth place overall.
In a bravura performance, Jilkova took Gts-class victory in the first sprint race, held in wet conditions, while the overall winner was the Bullitt Racing Aston Martin GT3 driven by Valentin Hasse-clot.
The circuit had dried out in time for the second sprint, the highlight of which was a stirring drive from the back of the grid to victory in the GTR class, and third overall, by Carrie Schreiner, who shared her Schnitzelalm Racing AMG GT3 with EX-DTM racer Peter Terting. Teixeira, who was briefly – and boldly – challenged by his brother Manuel in a Radical SR8, was the overall victor.
In both sprint races, the GTWS’S most-popular class, Cup S for the Cayman GT4 Clubsport, provided excellent entertainment, with honours taken by Harry Verkerk and the Teixeira brothers’ father, Antonio Sr, respectively.
Marchewicz and Sander went into the main event of the day, the endurance race, vying for championship honours with the BMW Spain M2 CS of Jose Manuel de los Milagros and Nerea Marti, but the former pairing was to triumph, with an 11th-place overall finish.
ZVO duo Jilkova and Robert Haub’s championship hopes depended on the leading BMWS taking themselves out, so they had to be content with third overall and victory in the GTS class. Schreiner/terting again started from the back and drove to class victory, overcoming a pitstop delay.