Portuguese Drivers Join Project 1-AO for Portimao

Portuguese drivers Miguel Ramos and Guilherme de Oliveira will contest their home FIA World Endurance Championship race at Portimao this weekend as additions to the Project 1-AO lineup.

Both drivers are set to make their WEC debuts in the No. 56 Porsche 911 RSR-19 which they will share with Matteo Cairoli, as confirmed in an updated entry list.

Ramos and de Oliveira will substitute for PJ Hyett, who is racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Long Beach this weekend, and Gunnar Jeannette.

AO Racing also runs a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the North American series, with Hyett as one of the full-time drivers and Jeannette working as the team’s director of motorsports.

Ramos, who will stand in for Hyett as Project 1’s designated Bronze driver at Portimao, is the reigning two-time Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Pro-Am champion and also won the International GT Open title in 2020.

Silver-rated de Oliveira, meanwhile, drove for Inter Europol Competition in the European Le Mans Series last season and finished second in the LMP3 standings.

Jeannette told Sportscar365 in January that he and Hyett were figuring out how to manage date clashes between the WEC and the WeatherTech Championship this year.

The two major sports car racing series also overlap in July when the 6 Hours of Monza and the IMSA event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park fall on the same weekend.