Irish driver Nicole Drought made motorsport history at the weekend by securing the Spanish GTX AM Championship title during the season finale at the iconic Circuito de Jerez. The Tipperary native wrapped up the crown with a race to spare following a breakout debut campaign in international GT racing.
Having won the UK based TDC title in 2024, Nicole, who is Finance Manager at the Mondello Park race track during the week, moved to European based GT racing for 2026 and teamed up with the Portuguese based Protech Motorsport squad, in what proved to be hugely successful campaign. Ahead of this weekend's final races of the season Nicole had taken a podium finish at every round, despite never having raced at any of the circuits before.
After struggling initially in Friday testing, Nicole, co driver Lucas Fothergill, along with the Protech team engineers, decided on a change of setup before qualifying. This proved to be a clever move, as the car was far better, allowing Nicole to claim GTX AM pole in Saturday morning qualifying. At the start of the race, she pulled clear of her title challenger's McLaren and forged her way past a number of Porsche GT3 Cup cars to hand over to Lucas with a strong class lead. Lucas managed the gap to the second placed car to take the chequered flag for a hugely popular victory, with the duo amassing enough points to assure them of the coveted championship title.
The team once again changed setup for Sunday's race, focussing on late race pace. Lucas started this time and unfortunately was delayed by a shunt at Turn One on the opening lap. He managed to avoid contact but this dropped him to the tail of the field. He pitted as soon as the pit window opened and handed over to Nicole. A safety car period bunched the field up and as soon as the race went green, she went to work. Three BMW M2s were quickly despatched before she began chasing down a group of battling Porsche Cup cars. As they had planned, the 718 had very strong pace in the final ten minutes and Nicole caught and passed down two of them. She had another one in sight when the chequered flag fell. It was another class win, but also a season best 8th overall and fourth GT4 car across the line.
Nicole Drought, 2026 Supercar Espana GTX AM Champion:
“I'm delighted to have got the job done today. The Balance of Power did not suit the Porsche this season, and we have had to work so hard on setup and strategy to make this happen. It's a great championship though and I am so lucky to be able to race a Porsche at these amazing venues. A big thank you to Protech, to Lucas and of course to all of my wonderful partners and supporters. I think we have made good steps this weekend in terms of setup and will be pushing as hard as we can to make it two championship wins, when we visit Estoril in December."
The Jerez event brings the Spanish 2026 campaign to a close, with Drought now a seven time motorsport champion, spanning three different disciplines..
The Iberian series however, has one more round, at Estoril in Portugal in early December, with Drought and Fothergill hoping to better their current position of third in that series.
