Spanish GT Preview - Valencia
The Spanish series now faces three events to round up the 2004 season – Valência this weekend, Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona. Thirty cars are expected at the Comunidad Valenciana Circuit and just one point is the difference between the Meycom Marcos LM 600 drivers (de Castro and Burgueño) and Balfe Motorsport's Mosler MT900R pair. At the end of this race, we probably won't know the winner of the championship, but we will certainly know who will not win.

Miguel Angél de Castro / Angél Burgueño and Nigel Taylor / Shaun Balfe will not have an easy weekend. The overall winner could well come from Cor Euser’s Marcos, SEAT or a Portuguese Porsche team. Cor Euser's Marcos LM 600 is always a contender and this time Marcos Racing International will be helped by Herman Buurman's Marcos LM 600.

Shaun Balfe is full of confidence though, having led the first race at the recent British GT Championship meeting at Thruxton. “The track should definitely suit us as the car is great around the tight corners,” he said. “The layout means that out and out horsepower shouldn’t be necessary and we have out-performed some of the quicker Spanish GT regulars on tighter circuits this year. Our first win of the year was at a similar venue, at Albecete.”

The SEAT teams will try to show why the Spanish marque took the championship last season. SEAT Sport had been developing the Cupra GT and the car will return after missing Estoril, with X-Box sponsorship and colours. The Spanish touring car star Jordi Géne will join Darro Motor Sport's SEAT. However, the team hasn’t confirmed whether they will run a Toledo or a brand new Cupra GT.
The new car has been testing throughout the last month. Saturn Motorsport will run its SEAT Toledo GT, rather than its slow Chevrolet Corvette C5.

Portuguese teams will field three Porsches for the Valencia race. The Mello Breyners’ Porsche 911 GT2 tested at Valencia last week and the ASM Porsche 911 GT3-Rs has been running at Jerez de la Frontera. Pedro Couceiro is more confident than ever in this car. The gentleman driver António Nogueira is going to enter his Porsche 911 GT2 alone. Last weekend, he was second in his category at Rampa de Murça, in a hillclimb event.

Luis Carlos Maurel and Pérez Fontán will have a ‘new’ Peugeot 406 Silhouette ex-French SuperTouring championship car.

The GTB Class will be another battle between Spanish Ferrari 360 Challenge and Portuguese Porsche 996 Cup cars, but expect an alternative winner from the Manel Cerqueda / Luis Pérez Sala Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge entry.

In the lower class, GTC, we will see again the battle between Ángel Banús’ Audi TT and Miguel Iocavacci’s Venturi 400 Trophy.
Sergio Fonseca

Championship Points
1 MIGUEL A. DE CASTRO 121 pts
1 ANGEL BURGUEÑO 121 pts
3 NIGEL TAYLOR 120 pts
3 SHAUN BALFE 120 pts
5 DANNY Van DONGEN 100 pts
5 COR EUSER 100 pts
7 MIGUEL AMARAL 89 pts
7 PEDRO COUCEIRO 89 pts
9 FRANCESC GUTIERREZ 85 pts
9 LUIS VILLALBA 85 pts
11 LUIS PEREZ SALA 82 pts
11 MANEL CERQUEDA 82 pts
13 VICENTE SAEZ-MERINO 77 pts
13 VICTOR FERNANDEZ 70 pts
15 JESUS DIEZ DE VILLARROEL 70 pts
16 GINES VIVANCOS 60 pts
17 JORDI GENE 59 pts

Valencia Entry
GTA
1 Gines Vivancos/Jordi Gené SEAT Cupra GT
4 Manuel Mello Breyner/Pedro Mello Breyner Porsche 911 GT2
5 Miguel de Castro/Ángel Burgueño Marcos LM600
6 Lluis Llobet/Víctor Fernández SEAT Toledo GT
7 Luis Villalba/Francesc Gutierrez Porsche 996 GT3-RS
8 Miguel Amaral/Pedro Couceiro Porsche 996 GT3-RS
9 Philippe Brocard/Daniel Desbrueres Opel Astra Silhouette
10 Cor Euser/Danny Van Dongen Marcos LM600
11 Shaun Balfe/Nigel Taylor Mosler MT900R
12 Manuel Valero/Jorge Aspar SEAT Cupra GT
14 Herman Buurman/Yelmer Buurman Marcos LM600
15 Luis Carlos Maurel/Pérez Fontán Peugeot 406 Silhouette
16 Luis Monzón/Polo Villaamil Ferrari 360 Modena N-GT
17 Jean Maury-Laribiere/Patrick Caternet Porsche 996 GT3-RS
19 Antonio Nogueira Porsche 911 GT2
20 Pedro Nevoa/Víctor Fernández Ferrari 360 Modena N-GT

GTB
21 Manel Cerqueda/Luis Pérez Sala Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge
22 Santiago Puig/Javi Díaz Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge
23 Vicente Sáez Merino Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge
24 Simon Watson/Santiago Molinedo Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge
25 Manuel Sáez Merino/Carl Krieger Marcos Mantis
27 Antonio Cutillas/Ricardo García-Galiano Ferrari 360 Modena Challenge
28 Pedro Bastos/Armando Paes Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
29 Joao Terenas/Carlos Peres Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
30 Jean-Pierre Pla/Jacques Medard Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
31 Francisco Gallego/Pedro Estrela Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
32 Bernardo Gallego/Miguel Ferreira Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
33 José Bermúdez/Paul Gebbink Marcos Mantis

GTC
36 Jorge Enríquez/Enrique de la Cuerda Venturi 400 Trophy
37 Frances Robert/Javier Sosa Porsche 996 Cup
39 Antonio Torres/Jaime Sáinz de Baranda Ferrari 355 Challenge
40 Miguel Iacovacci/TBA Venturi 400 Trophy
41 Ángel Banús Audi TT
42 Gordon Condrey/Ángel Romero Ferrari 355 Challenge