The official (but non-mandatory) Winter Test ahead of the 2025 season of the International GT Open started today at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya with eleven teams represented. AF Corse, Car Collection Motorsport, Eastalent Racing, Elite Motorsport, Garage 59, GetSpeed, Mertel Motorsport, Optimum Motorsport, Oregon Team, Team ISR and Thor Team attended, representing a little less than half of the 30+ cars expected at the start of the season in one month in Portimão.
The first of the two days of the Winter Test saw the first two sessions take place on a dry track, while the third one, in the afternoon, was characterized by the rain. This allowed teams to work in different conditions.
At the end of the day, the combined results saw the debuting Elite Motorsport Ferrari 296 of young guns Tom Lebbon and Tom Emson post the best lap time, in 1.40.658, a mark reached in the second session. They beat the Car Collection Porsche of ‘Hash’-Alex Fontana by 0s209. The American-Swiss duo had taken first position in session one (1.40.867).
Reigning champions Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase were third-fastest (+0s363) in the Eastalent Audi ahead of the GetSpeed Mercedes of Marcelo Ramírez-Ralf Aron (+0s497), who were later fastest in the wet session (1.54.969), the ISR Audi of Filip Salaquarda-Libor Milota (+0s560) and the Oregon Lambo of Artem Petrov-Antoine Doquin (+0s657), in a top 6 including five different car brands.
The Winter Test continues on Wednesday with three more sessions of two hours each.