Carrera 80: Escort and M3 Divided the Wins in Valencia

The 2025 season of the Iberian Carrera 80 competition continued this past weekend with two races at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, part of the inaugural Valencia Iberian Racing Festival, where two iconic cars from world motorsport took the victories. The pairings of Ricardo Pereira and Pedro Teixeira de Melo, driving a Ford Escort RS2000, and Paulo Lima and José Paradela, in a BMW M3, won the first and second races respectively.

The competition, which features historic cars that left their mark on racing between 1976 and the late 1990s, delivered close and hard-fought battles from start to finish. In the first race, held on Sunday morning, victory went to the RP Motorsport duo, Ricardo Pereira and Pedro Teixeira de Melo, who came out on top in a dramatic race and crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead over Carlos Tavares. Tavares drove solo to secure second place in his Group A BMW E30 M3, prepared by RodaClássica.

Third place went to Manuel Ferrão in a Ford Escort MKII RS1800, who, starting from the back of the grid, delivered an attacking drive to secure the top step of the podium in the GR2 category. Paulo Lima and José Paradela, at the wheel of a BMW E30 M3, had been leading the race convincingly, but two penalties — one for an error during the starting procedure and another for incorrectly carrying out a “Stop & Go” — ultimately compromised their result, dropping them to fourth place. They finished just ahead of Teo Antonio Pérez, who rounded out the top five in his BMW 325i E36.

In the battle of the classes, the Honda Civic driven by the Spanish duo Juan Alonso Borras and José Antonio Zorrilla took victory in the T2000 class, finishing sixth overall, while the Datsun 1200 of Daniel Casas and Eugenio Fernández was the best among the GR1/N entrants, claiming seventh place overall.

Eighth place went to David Peinado in a Citroën Saxo, a former Spanish Trophy car entered as a guest, while ninth overall was claimed by Guillermo Velasco and Francisco Freitas of Curated Garage, driving a Datsun 1200 in the GR1/N class.

In the second race, victory went to the favourites, Paulo Lima and José Paradela, who dominated from start to finish in their BMW E30 M3. The battle for second place provided plenty of excitement, with first-race winners Carlos Tavares and Manuel Ferrão fighting hard all the way to the chequered flag. The duel between the Ford Escort RS2000 of Ricardo Pereira and Pedro Teixeira de Melo and Manuel Ferrão’s ex-RODAM Ford Escort thrilled the spectators, with the two cars crossing the line separated by mere thousandths of a second, the advantage going to the RP Motorsport-run machine.

Teo Antonio Pérez finished fourth in his BMW 325i E36. The Honda Civic of Juan Alonso Borras and José Antonio Zorrilla once again impressed, securing another victory in the T2000 class by finishing fifth overall. In the GR1/N category, the pairing of Daniel Casas and Eugenio Fernández consolidated their position, once again emerging as the class winners with their Datsun 1200, finishing seventh overall. Eighth place went to Carlos Tavares, whose race was compromised after a trip through the gravel.

With the two Spanish rounds now completed and two double-header events still to go, the Carrera 80 will return as part of the revitalised Algarve Classic Festival, taking place from 24 to 26 October.