It's been a perfect start to the season for Team Need For Speed's BMW Z4 Coupés: a win in Race 1 for Edward Sandstrom and Abulaziz Al-Faisal in the #6 car with Claudia Hurtgen and Csaba Walter backing them up in second place. 

The start of the race was amazingly well behaved for once, with all the cars getting through the first corner unscathed for once despite scattering five-wide across the track at the rolling start. Edward had started the Z4 from pole but was mobbed at the green lights – he was sticking to the 90kph rolling start speed and was jumped by the cars around him who had already started accelerating! But, this just meant more fun in overtaking them to get the lead back. Edward handed over the car from the lead – Abdulaziz emerged from the pits just a second in front of the chasing Mercedes SLS but soon pulled out a gap that he kept to the chequered flag. 

Behind them, Csaba in #7 had endured a tough first stint after starting back in 11th – he made it into the top 10 before handing over to Claudia. Watching her stint made my afternoon! She carved through the field, taking car after car, and finished in second place. A lesson in aggressive driving – great to watch!

In third was another Z4, the Dutch Faster Racing entry, making it a clean sweep of the podium for BMW. For Team Need For Speed, that's now three wins in a row – Zolder at the end of last year, the Dubai 24 and now here in Portugal – and it's the first win in FIA GT3 for a Saudi Arabian driver. Race 2 tomorrow is going to be tougher, as the cars are starting in 15th and 18th, but after today's successes they've got to be hoping for another good result. Be sure to check out the video feed for a re-run of the race, plus the afternoon's GT1 Qualifying Race.

Jonathan Moore

FIA GT3

GT3 Live TV stream

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve

Team Need For Speed Stories FIA GT3

Schubert Motorsport