The Gedlich Racing Winter Series begins this weekend at Estoril, where the GT Winter Series, SRO-licenced GT4 Winter Series and Prototype Winter Series will be in action.
The 2025 GT and GT4 Winter Series season opener will be streamed live on the Winter Series YouTube channel, alongside the sister Prototype Winter Series. Coverage kicks off at 13:30 local time on Saturday, and 08:50 on Sunday.
Here's an overview of the runners and riders.
Variety on show in GT Winter Series
The 2025 season marks the sixth edition of the GT Winter Series, featuring a variety of single-make cars along with SRO’s flagship GT2 and GT3 classes. This year, the GT3 field is split into two, with driver line-ups not featuring a bronze graded driver placed into GT3 Pro. GT3 class entries may feature a driver of Silver grade or above, so long as the co-driver is bronze-rated.
Defending champions SR Motorsport will be the standard bearers for the opening weekend of the season. Kenneth Heyer, one half of the 2024 championship-winning line-up, is joined by talented 22-year-old Moritz Wiskirchen in the #1 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo in GT3 class.
The GT3 class features a further pair of Mercedes-AMG machines, one entered by CBRX by SPS for FIA Motorsport Games medallist Dexter Müller, and the other for BDR by Grupoprom Racing Team’s Alfredo Hernandez.
The Cup 1 class for Ferrari Challenge cars will be of significant local interest, with former World Endurance Championship regular Rui Aguas sharing one of two 296 Challenge machines entered by AF Corse. Aguas shares with Christiano Maciel, while Danish duo Andreas Bogh-Sorensen and Benny Simonsen partner in a second car.
Portuguese team Araujo Competicao will field another 296 Challenge for its team leader Goncalo Araújo, alongside 2023 Iberian Supercars GTC and GTX champion Alvaro Ramos. Mertel Motorsport will be competing with the prancing horse in Cup 5 class, entering a 488 Challenge Evo for Scottish racing newcomer Oscar Ryndziewicz.
Cup 2 is home to Porsche Cup machinery, and will feature the return of 2024 vice-champions Dieter Svepes and Leandro Martins in a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup. The pairing went on to win the Spanish GT Championship and the AM class of GT Cup Open Europe in 2024, and will be looking to start 2025 with similar highs.
However, Circuito do Sol will provide a significant challenge to the Racar team. The Spanish team is entering a single Porsche 992 Cup for Swedish duo Calle Bergman and Manz Thalin. The teenagers were team-mates during the 2024 Swedish Touring Car Championship, with Bergman also scoring Pro-Am podiums in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. Series regulars Joachim Bolting (Plusline Racing Team) and Przemyslaw Bienkowski (PTT Racing) will also be fighting for the top-step in the all-Porsche class.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars compete in the Cup 4 category. Clio Cup Europe race winner Jerzy Spinkiewicz will drive solo in the UNIQ Racing entry, looking to build upon a season of experience in Super Trofeo as he makes his Winter Series debut. Auto Sport Racing contributes two cars; one entered for Serbia’s Alex Beatovic, and the other for 2014 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Pro champion Milos Pavlovic and his protege Alessio Ruffini.
Experience versus youth in GT4 Winter Series
The GT4 Winter Series PRO class, last year’s runner-up team Elite Motorsport returns with a new line-up in the McLaren Artura GT4. GT4 European Series Silver champion Josh Rattican joins GB3 race winner McKenzy Cresswell, who makes his first start in GT racing. RAFA Racing by Race Lab also enters a McLaren Artura, for Callum Davies and Ginetta Junior graduate Charlie Hart.
United 4 Racing by Spirit of Leman makes its GT4 Winter Series debut, entering a Pro class Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT4 for American racer Maximilian Hewitt and Frenchman Baudouin Detout.
Meanwhile, W&S Motorsport splits its two Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS entries across the Pro and Pro-Am classes. The Ofterdingen-based squad won 12 championships in 2024, and will be looking for more silverware from Alon Gabbay and Maximilian Schreyer in Pro. In Pro-Am, the W&S flag is flown by Nico Grundel and American racer Tim Horrell. Horrell is paraplegic, and began his racing career after the road accident that caused his injuries. The car is specially adapted for him by team partner Paravan.
SR Motorsport once again has a significant footprint on the GT4WS grid. One half of the 2024 GT Winter Series champions, Jay Mo Hartling, will partner up with 18-year-old Enrico Forderer, who is a double champion in the German GTC Race category. A pair of Clubsport-spec Porsche Caymans are also entered under the SR Motorsport banner, in the Cayman Trophy class.
British team SVG Motorsport will make its international GT racing debut at Estoril, entering a Pro-Am Ginetta G56 GT4 Evo for former British Endurance class champions Marc Elman and Owen Hizzey. Further UK representation comes from Century Motorsport, bringing a BMW M4 G82 GT4 to Estoril for 2024 British GT team-mates Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson.
The Pro-Am class is completed by Plusline Racing Team, with team co-founder Peter Terting set to drive the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS CS. The ex-DTM and WTCC star is joined by Peter Lobeck. A second Plusline Porsche joins the Am class, driven by series regular Bolting.
The grid for the first GT4 Winter Series weekend of 2025 is completed by a pair of entries in the Club class, for older GT4 vehicles with expired homologations. A BMW M4 F82 entered by Portuguese team Monteiros Competicoes is joined by a Mücke Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT4.
Le Mans winner among Prototype Winter Series leading names
The second season of the Prototype Winter Series will once again host a soundtrack of thundering V8s, as second-generation LMP3 cars compete under the banners of Europe’s leading sportscar racing teams.
2024 Prototype Winter Series champion Danny Soufi is returning to defend his crown, once again joining Konrad Motorsport in a Ligier JSP320. Franz Konrad’s famed team, which has claimed accolades at every major sportscar championship and endurance race, has been partnered with the 21-year-old Austin resident since 2022.
Familiar competition and new contenders have congregated at Estoril to challenge him, including the Luxembourg-based DKR Engineering team which once again enters a Duqueine D08 for Jon Brownson and Laurents Horr. Brownson, a 71-year-old veteran of prototype racing, scored podiums in last year’s championship, and will be looking to reach the top step this time around alongside team regular Horr - who has no fewer than three LMP3 titles under his belt.
Fellow Luxembourgers Racing Experience come into the Prototype Winter Series with many eyes trained on the #12 Duqueine D08. The team held a shootout at the tail-end of 2024, to determine one half of its 2025 Prototype Winter Series line-up.
Mathias Bjerre Jakobsen impressed the most, and the reigning Nordic F4 champion joins two-wheeled Rally Raid convert Wolfgang Payr for the winter campaign for his LMP3 race debut.
Jakobsen's fellow Dane Philip Lindberg will drive solo aboard a High Class Racing Ligier JSP320. Lindberg has spent the last four years largely focused on TCR Denmark, winning races and scoring podiums along the way. He was also part of the line-up that won the 2021 Danish Endurance Championship, and will be keen to make a mark in the Prototype Winter Series.
Yvan Muller’s M Racing outfit makes its Gedlich Racing debut this weekend, entering a Ligier for Michael Doppelmayr and Pierre Kaffer. Doppelmayr has taken AM class victories in the Creventic 24H Series and GT2 European Series, and claimed vice-champion status in the 2024 24H Series European Championship. All of these accomplishments have come alongside Kaffer, winner of the GT2 class at the 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours and overall victor at the 2019 Nurburgring 24 Hours.
CLX Motorsport - previously known as Cool Racing – won the 2022 and 2023 ELMS LMP3 title and knows its Ligier JSP320 front-to-back. Its line-up features David Droux, the reigning Michelin Le Mans Cup drivers’ champion, who is joined by Quentin Joseph.
Two races of 50 minutes will be staged, where differences in driver grade between the line-ups are balanced through mandatory pitstop handicaps. Race one begins at 15:00 local time on Saturday 18 January, while Sunday morning’s encounter goes green at 10:15.
