razoon – more than racing with two Porsches at the finale in Portimão

The season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup will take place on 16 and 17 October in Portimão. For the first time, the Endurance Cup of the world’s largest GT series will be held on the popular up-and-down circuit on the Algarve coast. The Austrian team razoon – more than racing will field two Porsche 911 GT3 R cars, which will compete in the Bronze Cup. The race is attracting particular attention as four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is set to make his debut in the leading GT series.

The two Porsche 911 GT3 Rs from the team based in Eggersdorf near Graz will compete in the highly competitive Bronze Cup.

One of the cars will be driven by an all-Brazilian driver line-up. Sebá Malucelli, Alan Hellmeister and Marcos Gomes will take turns at the wheel of the Porsche. All three bring a wealth of experience from the Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil. Gomes, who was crowned champion in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship in 2015, has also enjoyed success in GT racing, having won the GT class in the Asian Le Mans Series in 2020. Alan Hellmeister has also gained experience in GT3 racing.

“For me, it’s a joy that defies description to be part of the world’s biggest GT championship. I’m absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to compete alongside drivers who have always been my role models in GT3 racing. And on top of that, there’s the incredible news that Max Verstappen will also be taking part in this race at Portimão. I couldn’t be happier. Portimão is a circuit I’m already familiar with from the Porsche Cup Brasil, so I think it’s a great opportunity to make my debut in GT3 racing. I’d like to thank everyone at razoon – more than racing for giving us such a warm welcome and for enthusiastically supporting the idea of a 100 per cent Brazilian trio. We’ll definitely be enjoying this whole experience to the full and will try to give it our all,” says Sebá Malucelli, looking forward to his debut in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS.

The line-up for the sister car is led by Leo Pichler, who has been competing in the ADAC GT Masters with razoon – more than racing for two years and will now be making his debut in the international GT series. In the long-established German GT series, Pichler has established himself as one of the fastest drivers and has secured three race wins to date. Alongside him will be Porsche Carrera Cup driver Max Mutschlechner from South Tyrol, who is making his debut in GT3 racing. Richard Wolf, who has competed for the Styrian-based Porsche racing team on numerous occasions over many years and drove the Porsche 911 GT3 R in last year’s Gulf 12h, completes the driver line-up.

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Leo Pichler ahead of his race in Portimão: “I’m naturally very excited to finally be making my debut in the GT World Challenge Europe. Thanks to the team for their trust, and I’m really looking forward to the weekend. We’ll be competing in the Bronze Cup, where the competition is, of course, very strong, so I’m heading there without too many expectations and want, first and foremost, to gain a lot of experience and, of course, have fun racing. And on top of that, it’s obviously incredibly cool to be competing in the same race as Max Verstappen.”

“I can hardly believe I’ll be competing in this race, as it’s not even been two years since I sat in a racing car for the first time… In any case, it’s a dream come true,” said Max Mutschlechner about his debut in GT3 racing.

“We’re delighted to be competing with two cars for the first time in the world’s biggest and most important GT3 series. The fact that we’ll be up against four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen makes it even more special for us – we’re already looking forward to the weekend in Portimão. We know the circuit very well from our appearances in the Winter Series,” said team owner Dominik Olbert. Christoph Huber, Driver Relationship Manager at razoon – more than racing, added: “We’ve been able to put together two strong line-ups for the Bronze Cup. Our aim is for both cars to complete the race as cleanly as possible and achieve the best possible result in our class. We also want to learn as much as we can for the future.”

The GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup will hold a three-hour race on Saturday evening, starting at 6.00 pm Central European Time. The race, as well as the practice and qualifying sessions, can be watched via the official livestream on YouTube. SKY Sport F1 will also broadcast the race live on pay-TV.