Autódromo do Algarve hosted the opening round of the EuroCup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, marking the start of GRS Team’s 2026 Formula 4 season. It proved to be a tough beginning, with several incidents preventing us from achieving our objectives.
The first round of the EuroCup-4 Spanish Winter Championship took place on February 21–22. The winter series of Formula 4 Spanish Championship kicked off at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. For GRS Team, it was the first race weekend of the season.
GRS fielded a two-driver line-up, both confirmed to contest the full season. French-Spanish driver Pablo Riccobono joined the team after competing in French F4 and in the final round of the 2025 F4 Spanish season with GRS Team. Meanwhile, Italian-Dutch driver Dante Cima faced his first-ever race weekend in single-seaters.
In preparation for the event, one official test session and two free practice sessions were held on Friday. This allowed the drivers to gain mileage on the spectacular Portuguese circuit ahead of competitive action.
Saturday’s activity began with qualifying, where two key factors -always present in F4 Spain and the EuroCup-4 SWC- once again proved decisive. The first was the extreme competitiveness of the grid, meaning that every hundredth of a second can translate into multiple positions gained or lost. The second was the importance of respecting track limits. In a challenging session, Riccobono qualified 24th, with Cima in 30th place.
The first race of the season followed, and both drivers made strong starts, gaining several positions. However, in the opening laps, Dante was unable to avoid contact with a rival’s car that had crashed ahead of him and was forced to retire. Pablo, meanwhile, remained inside the Top 20 throughout the race, battling in the midfield before finishing in P18.
The Sprint Race lasted only a few seconds for the team. Cima was unable to start due to the damage sustained in the previous race, while Riccobono stalled at the start due to a clutch issue and was forced to retire after being pushed into the pit lane.
On Sunday, the team again faced difficulties in qualifying: Pablo set the 29th-fastest time, while Dante qualified P31. Race 2 was once again marked by incidents. Riccobono had to pit and retire after an aggressive move from a rival left the French-Spanish driver without a front wing. Cima also had to pass through the pit lane but was able to finish the race in 26th position, one lap behind the leaders.
This brings to an end a chaotic and difficult start to the season. Both the drivers and the team have worked extremely hard to be here, and we are confident that by maintaining our work ethic and consistency, the results will improve. The next opportunity to prove this will come next week at the second round of the SWC at Circuito de Madrid Jarama.
