The opening of the season promises high competitiveness across the GT categories of the Winter Series, with more than 30 cars entered, teams from various European countries, drivers of multiple nationalities, and strong representation from international brands, resulting in one of the largest grids in the series.

Luxury grid in the GT3 category

The GT Winter Series kicks off the 2026 season with a grid of 32 cars, one of the largest ever in the GT3 class. Reigning champions SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Racing will field two Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo cars. Kenneth Heyer will once again fight for the championship, now alongside Jay Mo Härtling in the number 11 car. The team’s second Mercedes, number 111, will be driven by Michael Sander, GT Winter Series champion in 2021/2022, and Moritz Wiskirchen.

Mercedes will also be represented by PTT Racing, which is contesting the full season with Przemyslaw Bienkowski, the 2025 Polish GT national champion, aiming for the title. The German brand will also be represented by CBRX by SPS, with Dexter Muller, by Grupo Prom Racing Team, with Alfredo Hernandez, and by NM Racing Team, with a GT2 driven by Alberto De Martin and Branden Oxley. Orange Racing by JMH also returns to competition after a successful one-off appearance in 2025.

McLaren will be present with a 720S GT3 Evo from the British team, delivered to Simon Orange and Marcus Clutton. Ferrari will be represented by four 296 GT3s, two entered by AF Corse and two by Olimp Racing. Completing the GT3 grid are Haupt Racing Team with two Ford Mustangs, AF Motorsport with a Porsche 991.2, Juta Racing with an Audi R8, and LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler, which will compete regularly with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2.

Strong competition in the Cup and GTX classes

In the first round of the season, Team Engstler will have Jonas Karklys and Tim Hütter at the wheel of the Lamborghini, and will also be represented in the Cup 1 class, for Ferrari 296 Challenge cars, with Friedrich Müller. This category also includes two entries from AF Corse, as well as individual entries from Álvaro Ramos (Araújo Competição) and Lukas Azzato and Alberto Cola (Kessel Racing).

The Cup 2 class, reserved for Porsche 992 Cup cars, features a six-car grid, with teams including PTT Racing, MS Racing, Nacente Racing, Team Steiner Racing, LMR Racing, and Up2Race. Cup 4, dedicated to Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars, will feature Alessio Ruffini and Miloš Pavlović from Auto Sport Racing, as well as Petar Matić. In the GTX class, for cars outside the regular categories, Classic & Speed has entered a BMW Z4 GT3 for Marcus Oeyenhausen.

Tickets for the first race of the Winter Series are available on the Algarve International Circuit's official website, priced at €10 and including paddock access.