Italian outfit ZRS Motorsport impressed on their International GT Open debut in Portimão, giving the new Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo (992) its first outright win on European tarmac.
Alex Fontana took pole position in the first qualifying session of the 2026 season, and along with his teammate Pietro Armanni in Race 1, they secured victory in their #911 entrant.
They delivered a faultless performance with the new-for-2026 Evo version of Stuttgart’s latest 992 Porsche, stepping up from last year’s GT Cup Europe effort in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992.1) car.
ZRS was founded 24 years ago by Alessandro Zambon, and his son Nicolò manages ZRS’s racing division.
Nicolò could not attend Portimão due to another commitment at the Red Bull Ring, so his father led the team trackside in Portugal.
“Maybe I shouldn’t come to races,” joked Zambon.
“We didn’t expect to be so competitive from the start, but we knew we had done our homework well over the winter.
“Getting into GT3 at this time was the right move to make for us.
“The Porsche 992 Evo is a very good car, and Fontana and Armanni are a very good pair, mixing experience and youth.
“There is no need to say how good Alex is as a racer, a tester and a coach, and Pietro, who was a GT Cup Europe vice-champion with us last year, is a fast young driver with a lot of potential, who showed great solidity in his GT Open debut.
“I think we can be competitive throughout the season and hopefully be in the fight for the title.”
ZRS took Porsche’s first GT Open win since Barcelona in 2024, undertaken in the previous generation 911 GT3 R (992).
Respected race engineer Jody Firth was part of this effort two years ago and currently freelances at ZRS, therefore playing a role in both victories.
“It was nice to be involved in these two wins”, said the Brit, “and an honour to give its first European outright win to the new Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.
“It was ZRS’s [first] GT3 race, and we had only done two days of testing.
“Huge credit must go to Alex and Pietro, who were superb.”
