José Serrano continued where he left off at the opening round of the Gran Turismo World Series Manufacturers Cup for 2026.
Driving for reining champions Porsche, he won the first race for the German brand, narrowly beating Ferrari’s Maximilian Kroll by a scant 0.066s.
AMG, Nissan and Mazda would round out the top five of the six-lap race around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
A challenge made all the more intriguing, as it was running a reverse layout, something that can be driven solo and on Sport Mode in Gran Turismo 7, but not a venue that can be raced against computer-controlled rivals.
Serrano led Kroll from the start down the (backwards) Döttinger Höhe.
Mikołaj Sedziak qualified third, Jack Balding for AMG fourth, the top four starting on the medium tyre, the rest of the 12-car grid on hards.
Both the Porsche and the Ferrari were inseparable, near each other every second of the race and swapping positions between first and second numerous times.
After the final pitstop, Serrano came out ahead, only for Kroll to retake the lead on the penultimate lap.
The 911 GT3 slipstreamed back into the lead down the long straight that traditionally ends the lap, now at the start of the final tour. Defending gallantly, he just made it across the line first.
Sedziak’s Nissan lost touch with the front two at the start of the third lap, running slightly wide and onto the grass. Then, a 0.5s penalty for track limits served on the final lap dropped him to fourth at the end, just behind Balding’s AMG.
Uncharacteristically, Pol Urra ran wide on the opening lap, dropping to 10th initially, only for an alternate tyre strategy culminating in fifth. The Mazda driver clinched the position across the line, just besting Audi’s Kylian Drumont
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