SPV to Race Electric GT Tesla in Portuguese Hill Climb

SPV Racing will enter the former Electric GT race-prepared Tesla Model S in a Portuguese hill climb championship as the next stage in the team’s ambitious electric mobility offensive.

SPV was the only team to commit to Electric GT’s Electric Production Car Series and has always owned the Tesla Model S P100D used in most of the proposed championship’s demonstration events.

While plans for Electric GT to get underway have stalled due to a lack of funding, the Tesla will race this year, with Ricardo Gomes driving it in the Portuguese Mountain Championship (Campeonato de Portugual de Montanha).

The hill climb plans were officially presented at a launch event in the northern Portuguese city of Braga last weekend, and the car will be entered as Team Acrescentar.

“This year, we will be racing in the Portuguese hill climbing championship with the car,” SPV’s team principal Lars Lindberg told e-racing365.

“We have been looking at possibilities for the car to race. First, the car had the FIA approval, and we’re using that.

“This is the only FIA-approved Tesla race car. We will use it for eight races in the Portuguese hill climb championship, and then we are looking at two other hill climbing events which are interesting.”

This race program is only a small part of a major electric mobility and motorsport program from SPV, which includes establishing a technology center and redeveloping a race track in southern Portugal.

The Circuito do Sol, located in Serpa, Alentejo, will be improved and extended for a number of uses but mainly for the development of electric road and race car programs.

“We have a technical facility being built in Portugal that will be focusing on electric [cars], racing and on the carbon composite side of things,” Lindberg explained.

“You will see a lot of solar panels and such on the track, and the track is focusing on the electric side of things.

“At the track there is a technical facility. We have also received funding from the Portuguese government and the EU for this, we’re building a €5 million facility, focusing on the electric side of things and racing.”

The track was developed by Rodrigo Nunes, a Portuguese circuit designer previously responsible for creating a number of Formula E tracks.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.