Workforce Spain Wins 2023 Gran Turismo International Sequence Showdown Countries Cup

Coque Lopez, Jose Serrano, and Pol Urra of Spain won the opening competition of the new team-based Nations Cup by a commanding margin.

The Spanish team was unchallenged during the 30-lap race thanks to a risky strategy decision that was flawlessly carried out, and they won by a huge margin as all of their competitors made mistakes.

While Team France won the opening qualifying race and took the pole position in the subsequent qualifying session, things didn’t go fully Spain’s way throughout the day.

At Grand Valley, Kylian Drumont, the legendary driver of France, was the fastest in the Ferrari Vision GT, giving the team first choice of the high-performance road cars available for the qualification race. They chose the Mercedes-AMG GT, Italy chose the Honda NSX (as Valerio Gallo would naturally do), and Japan took third place by choosing the Porsche 911 996 GT3.

Spain, Japan, Italy, and yesterday’s Manufacturers Cup winner Jose Serrano engaged in an entertaining race-long battle, trading positions on a corner-by-corner basis. However, on the final lap, both Gallo and Rikuto Kobayashi received track limits penalties, which allowed Spain to finish a distant second behind France.

This established the starting grid for the actual final, and Spain made the odd decision to install the soft tires first, while every other team chose to do the same with the medium or hard tires.

Unsurprisingly, Spain didn’t take long to take advantage of the tire advantage; rookie Pol Urra passed Thomas Labouteley as he braked for turn five to seize the lead. The field divided into tire groups during the following laps, with Spain comfortably in the lead, France leading the medium runners, and Brazil leading the hard pack in seventh place.

This was basically the situation with the bare minimum tire stint requirements up until the first stops, when the hard-runners arrived first to forego the slowest compound and switch to mediums. Malaysia was the exception, however they made a mistake and didn’t even change their tires. That necessitated another stop, thereby eliminating the club from contention.

The vehicles that had begun on medium tires were the next to blink, with the majority switching to hard tires. Spain, who started on those soft tires, was able to extend its first stint almost to the halfway point of the race before switching to a set of medium tires, while Canada chose the alternative plan and picked up a set of softs in the hopes of tearing through the pack and defending at the finish.

This second stint was what ultimately put a stop to France’s challenge. France received a warning for blocking as it engaged Team Japan in combat before accruing some track limits penalties, which is difficult at Lago Maggiore, dropping the team behind Italy and, because to the tire disparity, Brazil as well.

After 22 circuits, Spain and Canada both made their final pit stops to get the last hard tire they needed, leaving the rest of the grid on the soft tires. While Spain had a massive cushion of 31 seconds and appeared to be unbeatable, Canada was easily able to catch up to the pack behind it.

Mark Pinnell in the Canadian vehicle was relatively easily dispatched by Kobayashi, and only four corners later, Brazil, a resurgent French car, and Italy all overtook Canada. The Japanese driver’s push forward, which was at one time 4.5 seconds per lap and unquestionably sufficient to pass Serrano for the lead, was however interrupted by a track boundaries penalty.

However, it soon became clear that the soft tire’s peak performance was over, as seen by Kylian Drumont’s uncommon collision as the Team France car switched ends as it exited the bowl hairpin. Japan was unable to make up the necessary time while still putting an end to Spain.

Serrano was left to win for Spain by taking the checkered flag first once more, capping off a flawless Showdown weekend. Japan and the formidable Brazilian team finished second and third, respectively.

The World Final, which will take place in Barcelona for the first time at the beginning of December, is currently just over three and a half months away. Spain appears to be a tremendously difficult team to beat given the margin of victory here, and will undoubtedly be the favorite to win the trophy at home.

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