ZRS Motorsport was the unexpected hero of the 2026 GT Open season-opener at Portimão. The Italian squad made a stunning debut in the series, taking the pole position and the win in Race 1 with its brand new Porsche 992.2 driven by Alex Fontana and Pietro Armanni in its very first race ever in the series.
Not bad for the small outfit of the Zambon family, a traditional Porsche customer, which operates out of Rovigo, in the North-East region of Veneto, and has joined the international racing scene in 2023, competing in the GT Open’s junior series, the GT Cup Europe, where it has clinched a final third in 2023 and runner-up honours in 2025. In parallel, ZRS continues to be active on the Italian racing scene. The Italian GT series and the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia have been its main playgrounds in recent years. Before that, it collected titles in competitions such as the Coppa Italia (2008, 16, 17) and the Novecento GT Race (2018-19).
As a company operating in three sectors (car service, racing and classic), ZRS was founded in 2002 by Alessandro Zambon. Today, it is son Nicolò at the helm of the racing department, although he could not attend the Portimão round, being taken by another commitment at the Red Bull Ring, with patriarch Alessandro leading the troops in Portugal.
“Maybe I shouldn’t come to races”, says Nicolò Zambon in a joking mode, but unable to hide his satisfaction. “We didn’t expect to be so competitive from the start, but we knew we had done our homework well over the winter. Getting into GT3 at this time was the right move to make for us. The Porsche 992 Evo is a very good car, and Fontana and Armanni are a very good pair, mixing experience and youth. There is no need to say how good Alex is as a racer, a tester and a coach, and Pietro, who was a GT Cup Europe vice champion with us last year, is a fast young driver with a lot of potential,who showed great solidity in his GT Open debut. I think we can be competitive throughout the season and hopefully be in the fight for the title.”
ZRS doesn’t hide its ambitions. For now, it has brought Porsche back to the top of the podium. The last win of a 911 GT3 R was in Barcelona in 2024, when Menzel-Bergström imposed their Car Collection car. Interestingly enough, there is a link between those two wins, as Jody Firth, the expert race engineer, was involved with the German squad then and is freelancing at ZRS now. “It was nice to be involved in these two wins”, says the Brit, “and a honor to give its first European outright win to the new Porsche 911 GT3R EVO. It was ZRS’s GT3 race, and we had only done two days of testing. Huge credit must go to Alex and Pietro, who were superb.”