GPX Racing principal Pierre-Brice Mena has commended the efforts of Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet, team mainstays Frédéric Fatien and Jordan Grogor, and the operation as a whole following the Emirati team’s victory at the COPPA FLORIO 12H Sicily.

GPX Racing’s win at the Autodromo di Pergusa was secured in commanding fashion, the #36 Porsche 911 GT3 R having pulled five laps clear of 2nd-placed CP Racing and 3rd-placed Car Collection Motorsport after 12 hours of racing was completed on Sunday 11 October. One day earlier, the Emirati team also won the Coppa di Martino trophy having crossed the line at the head of the field after the first six hours of racing.

Jaminet, Fatien (also the team’s founder) and Grogor thus became the first drivers to take an official ‘Coppa Florio’ victory since Guy Edwards and Emilio de Villota’s success aboard a Lola T600-Ford in 1981. On top of that, GPX Racing simultaneously secured its first outright GT win in the 24H SERIES in the process.

Pierre-Brice Mena praised Jaminet in particular in his post-race remarks, as well as the significance of Struttgart’s most famous sports car manufacturer in Sicily. Jaminet, a former Porsche Carrera Cup France and ADAC GT Masters champion who also took podium finishes at the Hankook 24H DUBAI and Hankook 24H PORTIMAO in 2018, set the event’s fastest lap on 11 different occasions during his five stints at the wheel of the #36 Porsche.  

The team’s Porsche 991 GT3 R meanwhile boasted a bespoke Gulf Racing livery, one penned by Sean Bull Design and inspired directly by the Gulf-sponsored JW Automotive Engineering Porsche 908/03s that finished 1st and 2nd on the Targa Florio in 1970.

“To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Porsche’s great victory on the Targa Florio, we were determined to run one of the make’s works drivers,” Pierre-Brice Mena explained. “So we were delighted to be able to count on Mathieu Jaminet and to win with him.

“I really appreciated the welcome of the Sicilians who were very proud to organise this race again. Great drivers and major manufacturers took part [on the Coppa Florio] in the past. When the possibility of racing in a round of the 24H SERIES Europe on the lands of the Targa Florio and the Coppa Florio emerged, there was no way the team could give it a miss.”

The 2020 COPPA FLORIO 12H Sicily marks another high-profile win for GPX Racing, which last year secured outright victory at the Spa 24 Hours with Kévin Estre, Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen.

Conversation is also ongoing between GPX Racing and CREVENTIC regarding the Emirati team’s entry for its ‘home race’ – the Hankook 24H DUBAI – on 14-15-16 January 2021. GPX Racing / GP Extreme has competed the annual Hankook 24H DUBAI every since 2017, picking up a best of 2nd in A6-AM on its maiden outing.