Adamastor aiming to join GT ranks
Portuguese marque Adamastor Automotive has a prototype version of its road-going Furia on display in the paddock this weekend.
The display model is a hybrid of its future road-going and race variants, with a limited-production run of 60 road-going customer models set to commence from next year. Production numbers of the race version will not be restricted.
The Furia was developed with a focus on performance, particularly through reducing weight and maximising the ground effect. The result is a car which weighs 1050 kilograms and features a carbon fibre monocoque produced in-house, all powered by a 3-litre V6 twin-turbo engine.
Adamastor harbours future aspirations of the car racing in GT competition, with its visit to the GT World Challenge Europe paddock part of its plan to figure out where exactly this could be.
Lynn enjoying maiden GT3 season
Team RJN’s Maxwell Lynn is coming to the conclusion of his maiden full-season GT3 campaign, with the Briton having contested the entire Endurance Cup aboard the team’s Silver Cup-entered #23 McLaren GT3 Evo.
Before this season, historic specialist Lynn’s contemporary GT3 experience consisted of a trio of outings in the Dubai 24 Hours, the first two of which were aboard an ageing Bentley Continental GT3 before Team Parker Racing switched to a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO for this year’s race.
“It was a jump coming from the Creventic Dubai 24 Hours to GT World Challenge, but it’s been mega fun,” he told DSC.
“It helps being a British driver in a British team. The camaraderie is great within the team, so they make you feel welcome straight away. Being in the Silver Cup, we knew we’re coming into an extremely competitive class, but it’s been mega fun to me.”
So far this season, the #23 McLaren’s standout moment came at Monza at the end of May. Not only did Lynn, Horatio Fitz-Simon and Ben Dörr lead the Silver Cup class for the majority of the race, they also appeared on course for an upset outright victory until the timing of a Full Course Yellow in the closing stages proved costly.
This meant that Team RJN had to settle for sixth overall and the final step on the Silver Cup podium, comfortably its best result of the season, but one which could have been so much better.
“We struggled a little bit for pace at Paul Ricard [the season opener], and we had a few issues at pit stops,” Lynn reflected.
“But then we went to Monza, and we were running very well. We were leading in class for all but 15 minutes of the race, and that’s just how it happens in this series.”
This pace carried over to the 24 Hours of Spa, where once again the desired result went amiss, whilst at the most-recent Endurance Cup event at the Nürburgring the #23 McLaren qualified second in Silver before early contact between Lynn and Thierry Vermeulen – for which the Dutchman was penalised – derailed the team’s race.
“Going to Spa, we didn’t have the result we wanted,” Lynn continued.
“Quite early on we went a couple of laps down, but again the pace was mega. The team has done an awesome job all year. The car has been super fast at every race, and we’ve got one last chance to try to bring home a good result.”
Compared to his previous GT3 outings, Lynn has found the transition to the McLaren relatively simple, owing to its mid-engined nature.
“The McLaren feels like quite a natural car to drive,” he said. “I drove the Mercedes-AMG at the start of this season at Dubai, which is a very different car to drive. I’d say that the McLaren feels more natural being mid-engined, and these boys know how to set a car up.”
One key factor that Lynn has benefitted from has been the presence of two-time DTM race winner Dörr, who will receive an unsurprising upgrade from Silver to Gold over the off-season, in the line-up.
“Having Ben in the car, we know every time I get in to drive, Ben’s got a very good set-up on it,” Lynn explained. “When you get into a car knowing it’s where it needs to be, it makes life a lot easier.
“Having him in the car and finishing off each race, compared to a lot of other drivers he’s very good, so we know we always finish strong.”
Léo Jousset wins SRO GT Academy in FFSA GT
Léo Jousset has been named as the winner of the FFSA GT’s 2026 SRO GT Academy contest, with the Frenchman receiving €150,000 towards a 2027 drive in the GT2 European Series or GT World Challenge Europe.
The 24-year-old succeeds Gaspard Simon, who competed in GT World Challenge Europe with Walkenhorst Motorsport this season, as the winner having outperformed 12 other eligible participants across the FFSA GT season.
Jousset, who is in Portimão this weekend meeting with potential teams and personnel involved with the SRO GT Academy programme, will also benefit from support from SRO and FFSA beyond the cash prize.
Louis Prette to make GT2 debut
Not wanting to be left out by his GT World Challenge Europe co-drivers Tom Fleming and Benjamin Goethe pulling double-duty between Portimão and the 6 Hours of Barcelona, Louis Prette has also elected to race in two different series this weekend.
The Monegasque racer has been added to the line-up of the #1 LP Racing Maserati in the GT2 European Series, where he will share the car with his father Philippe. The car has moved from the Masters class to Pro-Am.
Philippe Prette has already won the Masters Drivers’ title in GT2 Europe this season, and stands an outside chance of adding the overall Drivers’ crown this weekend.
SRO achieves YouTube milestone
Earlier this week, SRO’s ‘GTWorld’ YouTube channel, on which every race it organises is broadcast, crossed over the one million subscriber threshold.
GTWorld will broadcast this evening’s Endurance Cup affair in seven different languages: English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Chinese and Portuguese.
Verstappen appearance prevents “small” attendance
Stéphane Ratel has credited Max Verstappen with the bumper crowd which has flocked to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, often not the best attended venue of any sportscar calendar, this weekend.
“Without Max, let’s not kid, we would have had a very small spectator attendance,” said the CEO and founder of SRO Motorsports Group.
“From the moment his entry was announced, the ticket sales went like this [raises his hand]. Slowly at the beginning, I have to say, but it picked up in the last few days, and now we have a good attendance and we have a good atmosphere.”
Starting Grid
Alessio Picariello will start this evening’s race from pole position, with the Belgian nominated to run the first stint in the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2).
Incredibly, it is the fourth consecutive race in which a car has scored its maiden Endurance Cup pole position, with the 992.2-spec Porsche following on from the Ford Mustang GT3 Evo (Monza), Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo (24 Hours of Spa) and Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo (Nürburgring).
Maximilian Götz will join Picariello on the front row aboard the #17 Mercedes-AMG.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is serving a five-place grid penalty, which Lorenzo Ferrari picked up for an incident at Monza when he was piloting the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi. This is Ferrari’s first start since Monza, hence the penalty being applied now.
Marschall deducts Nürburgring Endurance Cup points
Kessel Racing has requested that Dennis Marschall’s 15 points from the Nürburgring be removed from his tally for the Bronze Cup Endurance Cup drivers’ standings, since the German, as a non-Bronze driver, is ineligible to win the title solo.
Marschall is therefore now tied with his #74 Ferrari co-driver Dustin Blattner, with the pair holding a 15-point lead over Paradine Competition’s Darren Leung and James Kellett.
Marschall’s Nürburgring points have not been deducted from the full-season Bronze Cup Drivers’ Championship table, since Marschall is eligible to win this title alone.
Championship Permutations
Following yesterday’s Qualifying session, and the associated awarding of a championship point for pole position in each class, has slightly altered the championship scenarios ahead of today’s race.
Most significantly, the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Teams’ Championship has now officially been won by Winward Racing, with Comtoyou Racing no longer able to surpass the American squad after missing out on pole position.
In the Endurance Cup Gold Cup, the AF Corse-run #71 Selected Car Racing Ferrari of Simon Birch, Malthe Ebdrup and Frederik Schandorff has reduced its deficit to 10 points, whilst in the full-season Gold Cup Teams’ standings AF Corse now leads Garage 59 by 13 points. CSA Racing can no longer win the full-season Gold Cup Teams’ championship.
And in the Bronze Cup, Paradine Competition’s Darren Leung and James Kellett now trail Kessel Racing’s Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall by 15 points in the Endurance Cup Drivers’ standings. In the full-season Drivers’ standings, Marschall leads Winward Racing’s Marvin Dienst and Rinat Salikhov by 20.5 points, with Leung a further 4.5 points behind.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP and Dailysportscar
