Champion’s drive from Neumann who celebrates in style with Race 2 win
• Cole/Parente take shortened Race 1
• Von Oeynhausen, Debard and Huteau also seal class wins in Spain
The curtain fell on the first season of the GT3 Revival Series last weekend at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (3/4 October). The Spanish event produced two very different races, the first staged in heavy rain and the second under clear and sunny skies.
With titles already settled in the Pro-Am and Am Gen I classes, the main competitive focus was the outcome of the Am Gen II championship. This would be disputed by Heiko Neumann, taking the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG overseen by Team Motopark; and Benjamin Ricci, who was sharing his Storic and Race Cars-run Ferrari 458 with his father Mauro.
Saturday's opening contest began on a drenched circuit. The rain had started during the headline GT World Challenge race and intensified ahead of the GT3 Revival Series competitors taking to the grid, resulting in a safety car start.
Seven minutes had elapsed when poleman Pascal Huteau (Fanta Racing Legend by Code Classic) led the field into action aboard his Aston Martin V12 Vantage. This did not last long, as Am Gen I champion Eric Debard (Debard Automobiles by Racetivity) made a pass up the inside to capture the overall lead in his Ford GT.
There was a significant incident further down the order when Mauro Ricci spun his Ferrari 458 while going wheel-to-wheel with the Classic & Speed-run BMW Z4 of Christoph von Oeynhausen. Ricci was able to continue, but each lost position was crucial to Benjamin’s title bid.
Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Huteau retook the overall lead from Debard and initially pulled away. Debard responded by catching the Aston Martin once again, and there was nothing between them at the beginning of lap eight. Then disaster struck: the Ford began to slow with a puncture, allowing the Aston Martin to flash fast and back into the lead.
By this time the sky was growing dark and a few laps later it began raining heavily once again. The conditions were sufficiently bad to end the race with a little over 20 minutes left on the clock; indeed, such was the severity of the weather, there was no more track action at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the remainder of the day.
Half points were awarded with the result scored on the positions at the end of lap seven, meaning Huteau claimed the Am Gen II win, while Debard was victorious in Am Gen I and Mark Cole captured his maiden Pro-Am win alongside Alvaro Parente in their Quinntech-run Audi R8 LMS Ultra.
Mario Cordoni (Ferrari 458 – SRO Race Center) was second in Am Gen II, followed by title hopeful Neumann. With the 458 of Mauro and Benjamin Ricci finishing ninth in class, Neumann was now on the cusp of claiming the title.
The weather conditions were very different when Race 2 began on Sunday afternoon. Indeed, though it had continued to rain heavily throughout the night, the track was dry when the GT3 Revival Series began its final race of 2026 at 14:30. Unfortunately, the amended timetable resulted in some drivers being unable to compete on Sunday, including the Storic and Race Cars Ferraris.
This meant that Neumann was confirmed as the Am Gen II champion before the race had begun – and he had an opportunity to conclude the year in style. Parente started from overall pole but was immediately jumped by the SLS, which had edged clear of the Audi before reaching Turn 1. Parente then had to fight off Stéphane Ortelli – as he once did in the Blancpain GT Series – to hold on to second spot.
A few corners later, Parente slipped up the inside of Neumann to retake the overall lead. Oretlli, meanwhile, was clearly relishing the opportunity to drive his old car again. The Monegasque won top-level races with this same R8 more than a decade ago and jumped at the chance to own it when the car became available.
After closing on to the rear of Neumann he spent several laps filling the SLS's mirrors. They went wheel-to-wheel around the final corners of the lap, setting Oretlli up to finally complete a move at Turn 1. A problem during the pit stop prevented his friend and co-driver David Hallyday from building on the good work, though they certainly made an impression on their series debut.
Once the stops were complete the final 20 minutes of the season began with Pro-Am leader Cole at the head of the overall order followed by Am champion-elect Neumann and another Pro-Am runner in Von Oeynhausen. Neumann was already assured his class title and looked certain of another Am win, but there was one final flourish as he hunted down and passed Cole with six minutes left on the clock. This was the German driver’s first overall win, concluding his season in perfect style.
The final question was who would secure the last Pro-Am victory of 2026. Von Oeynhausen closed in and made a pass through the opening sweep on the final lap, capturing his third class win from the final three races and securing runner-up in the class standings.
The event concluded the maiden season of GT3 Revival Series competition, which has seen machinery from 11 different brands racing at Paul Ricard, Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans, the Nürburgring and Barcelona. Organised by SRO Motorsports Group and Peter Auto, the series caters for the first two generations of GT3 cars homologated between 2006 and 2013.
The 2027 campaign begins where 2026 concluded, with the opening round of next year taking place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as part of Espiritu de Montjuic (2–4 April). Interested teams and drivers should contact cvianipericchi@peter.fr and mariagiovanna.piva@sro-motorsports.com.
