Three and a half hours into the inaugural 24H PORTIMAO, the GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#963, Christoph Lenz/Roberto Pampanini/Milos Pavlovic/Rik Breukers/Mauro Calamia) holds a 30 second lead over the Wochenspiegel Team Monschau Ferrari 488 GT3 (#488, Georg Weiss/Oliver Kainz/Jochen Krumbach/Nico Menzel).
Milos Pavlovic, the GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini’s starting driver, took first place from Matteo Malucelli in the pole-setting Scuderia Praha Ferrari 488 GT3 (#11, Jiri Pisarik/Josef Král/Matteo Malucelli) right at the start. The Czech squad has fallen back into third place, but is still on the lead lap. Several A6-Am teams follow closely though and wait for their chances to strike.
Fourth overall and leading the A6-Am class is the Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS (#34, Rahel Frey/Gustav Edelhoff/Elmar Grimm/Ingo Vogler/Max Edelhoff). The Herberth Motorsport Porsche 991 GT3 R (#911, Daniel Allemann/Ralf Bohn/Robert Renauer/Alfred Renauer), that is entered in the A6-Am class this weekend, has already lost an hour in the pits.
The Hofor-Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (#1, Michael Kroll/Chantal Kroll/Roland Eggimann/Kenneth Heyer/Christiaan Frankenhout) is second in A6-Am and could benefit from their championship rivals’ lengthy pit stop. Third is the GP Extreme Renault RS01 FGT3 (#27, Frederic Fatien/Stuart Hall/Nicky Pastorelli/Tiziano Carugati/Bassam Kronfli), that set the best time in qualifying.
Three Porsche teams claimed the top qualifying spots in the SP2 class. Two of them fight for the class lead now. The B2F compétition Porsche 991 Cup (#35, Benoit Fretin/Bruno Fretin/Michel Mitieus/Jean-Charles Levy) currently has the upper hand against the PROsport Performance Porsche 991 Cup (#85, Charles Putman/Charles Espenlaub/Joe Foster/Andy Pilgrim). The IDEC SPORT RACING Porsche 991 Cup (#75, David Abramczyk/Stephane Adler/Romain Vozniak/Michael Blanchemain/Christophe Cresp) follows in third place, but has already lost two laps.
Having dominated the SP3-GT4 class qualifying already, the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 (#231, Dan O’Brien/Aleksander Schjerpen/Oliver Wilkinson) holds a 20 lap lead over the Parkalgar Racing Team Honda Civic Type R (#188, Sir Chris Hoy/Roger Green/Joaquim Penteado/Peter Brookes/Matt Brookes).
Despite close fights and several lead changes in the TCR class, the pole setters, the Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#908, Stéphane Ventaja/Gonzalo Martin de Andres/Thierry Boyer/Thierry Chkondali), are back in the lead.
Their team mates, the Team Altran Peugeot Peugeot 308 Racing Cup (#308, Thierry Blaise/Kim Holmgaard/Michael Carlsen/Mathieu Sentis), have already reached the runner-up spot from the back of the grid, but are two laps down. The Cadspeed Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR SEQ (#108, Ricky Coomber/David Drinkwater/James Kaye/Jim Briody/Erik Holstein), that left from second on the grid, has lost three laps and has fallen back into third place.