• The Racing Weekend Motorland, which took place at this Aragonese track, was the stage for the second double round of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Ibérica (PSCI) and The Racing Factory arrived in Spanish soil with its two drivers at the top of the point tables for their categories, Pedro Salvador between PROAM and Aloísio Monteiro in the GD’s work;
• The “boss” and driver of The Racing Factory (TRF) was clearly the strongest in the GD Category on the Aragonese circuit and, after having won Race 1, just a touch right at the start of Race 2 prevented Aloísio Monteiro from fighting for a second win at the weekend;
• Pedro Salvador’s two podiums were the reward for his ability to always ride among the best overall. The TRF driver was the protagonist in Race 2 of a fabulous recovery from last position to 3rd place;

The past weekend once again demonstrated the high degree of competitiveness that the PSCI Porsche squad has and the ability of the TRF duo to always be in the fight for primacy.

But not everything was rosy for the team in Aragon.

Pedro Salvador was always fast, but a less successful set-up limited his progress in Saturday’s competitive programme. There and in Race 1, the driver still tried to fight with his two most direct opponents in the fight for victory, but he soon realized that the “setup” was not the most suitable and, from halfway through the end of the race, he focused on holding 3rd place, which he won without opposition, earning precious points.

On Sunday and after the technical team had worked on improving the Porsche 991 GT3 CUP, Salvador was motivated to attack the lead, but was victim of a touch right at the start, which threw him to the last position. From then on, the pilot gave a driving recital, overtaking almost the entire peloton and still managing to recover to 3rd place, thus conquering two more podiums this season.

In the aftermath of this second double journey of the Porsche Sprint Challenge Iberica, Pedro Salvador did not hide some disappointment:

“On Saturday, I made the race possible, as I had no ‘front’ on the car and, under these circumstances, I tried to minimize the damage, conserving third place. On Sunday the car’s setup improved a lot, as we saw in qualifying. But, on the first corner of the race, I got hit and ended up in last place. From then on, I went in search of the damage and recovered to third, with the overtakes I made being the fun part of the race. Anyway, I leave Motorland with the sadness of not having been in the fight for victory, which was the main objective. It was what it was and now we have to start working for the third round, as we still have every chance of fighting for the title”.

Aloísio Monteiro, on the other hand, put on a simply colossal performance at Motorland.

From the first training sessions, he showed a very strong pace, which made it clear that the leader of the championship reserved for Category GD was in Aragon to defend and even reinforce that lead.

In Race 1, he soon reached 2nd place and began to pressure the leader of the category, it being clear that, at any moment, the pilot and “boss” of TRF would consummate the overtaking. And so, it was. The opponent made a mistake and Aloísio Monteiro took the lead, no longer having opposition until the checkered flag.

In Sunday’s race and starting at the first position among the GD Category, he was victim of the crash that happened in the first corner, being forced to retire.

“This weekend at R2 Motorland has shown my progression and pace. On Saturday I was always very fast and, in the race, I felt I had the best pace. I kept pushing until I reached the command of the category and the victory ended up being mine, I think, with all the merit. On Sunday I set the fastest time in qualifying, leaving no doubt that we were consistently the fastest on track in our class. Unfortunately, during the start of the second race, a collision was initiated by a driver who started from the outer lane. We tried to avoid the chaos by driving behind the car in front, but with a wall to our left and a car spinning ahead, there was no room to manoeuvre, leading to an inevitable collision and our premature exit from the race. Despite the early finish, we demonstrated our fast pace in our category and we will carry this momentum forward”, summed up Aloísio Monteiro in closing.

As leader of TRF, he also highlighted “the excellent technical work of the whole team who, throughout the weekend, were always able to support me and Pedro, continuing his learning and evolution in speed. This is our first season in this competition, and we are going head-to-head with much more experienced teams. This is the way and we are going to get better and better!”.