GRT Lamborghini – Grasser Racing Team took the win in the third round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring, after a close duel with Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-Filter.
Jordan Pepper took the lead on the opening lap of the race aboard Grasser’s #163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, and Pepper, Marco Mapelli and Franck Perera weren’t headed again across the three-hour event.
Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-Filter’s #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo shadowed them throughout, with the gap never larger than two seconds across the opening two hours as Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Daniel Morad kept the pressure on. The team attempted the overcut at the final round of pit stops, with Morad exiting the pits ahead of Perera, but the Lamborghini was back ahead by Turn 2.
The gap grew throughout the final stint, as Morad fell back towards Laurin Heinrich in the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3.R (92). Heinrich made the move at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, earning second-place for himself, Ayhancan Güven and Dorian Boccolacci, with Morad coming home in third. The eventual winning margin was 9.687 seconds.
It’s GRT – Grasser Racing Team’s first Endurance Cup win for over seven years, and Lamborghini’s first since the Nürburgring in 2021.
“Most times the advice given to everyone is you can never win the race at the first corner, and honestly today’s the first day I can say really that made the difference”, Pepper told GTWorld. “Being able to get through the mess, Turn 1-2, with no scratches, [and] get to the lead was really what made the difference and I put my head down. Of course, the #48 was incredibly quick but we know modern-day GT3 cars, with a lot of pick-up on the track as well, it’s very difficult to pass”.
A messy start featured multiple incidents, the most significant eliminating the pole sitting #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) of Patric Niederhauser, which had contact with the #71 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari of David Vidales at Turn One. Vidales was handed a Drive-Through penalty for his role in the incident.
Here’s the start. Scrappy sums it up.
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Behind, contact between Miguel Ramos (#188 Garage 59 McLaren) and Valentino Rossi (#46 WRT BMW) also caught up Klaus Bachler (#991 Pure Racing Porsche), Louis Machiels (#52 AF Corse Ferrari) and Andrey Mukovoz (#66 Attempto Audi).
Further round the lap, Luca Stolz (#2 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG) and Augusto Farfus (#998 Rowe BMW) were both delayed after contact, whilst Christopher Mies (#64 Proton Ford) spun after contact with Arjun Maini (#77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG). Of all those involved in Lap One incidents, only Niederhauser and Mukovoz retired. The rest of the race ran cleanly, with no interventions by Full Course Yellows or the Safety Car.
The start of the race had already been postponed by a lap, after contact on the first formation lap eliminated the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche of Ralf Bohn.
In amongst all the chaos, Pepper – who started third – had been able to get down the inside of Niederhauser and Vidales into Turn 2, and assumed the lead ahead of Auer and Güven. The trio slowly pulled away from the rest of the field, and their cars continued to do so throughout the three hour affair.
A consistent run for Tresor Attempto Racing’s #99 Audi was rewarded with fourth, ahead of Rowe Racing’s #98 BMW, which overcame a fifteen second penalty for a pitstop infringement.
Fifth on the road was the #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Comtoyou Racing, but a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release dropped them to sixth post-race. Nicki Thiim, Mattia Drudi and Marco Sorensen were still able to extend their championship lead and the 24 Hours of Spa winners are provisionally 15 points clear of the #99 Audi with two races to go.
Boutsen VDS’ #9 AMG GT3 Evo finished seventh, ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 in which Alessio Rovera gained 31 positions during an impressive opening stint after starting 48th.
Iron Lynx finished ninth with their #63 Lamborghini, with AF Corse’s #71 Ferrari recovering from its Drive-Through to finish in the Top 10, ahead of the #998 Rowe Racing BMW which had started the day second in the championship.
Team WRT’s #32 BMW M4 GT3 was a late retirement, with Dries Vanthoor bringing the car into the garage with 15 minutes to go after contact with Alessandro Pier Guidi (#51 Ferrari) whilst fighting for eighth. It was a frustrating day for WRT, with the sister #46 M4 only able to recover to 18th after its opening lap drama.
Tresor Attempto Racing’s Paul Evrard, Jim Pla and Gilles Magnus took the win in the Gold Cup, having fought off the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo’s of AlManar Racing by GetSpeed and Haupt Racing Team. Haupt’s Arjun Maini was able to take the lead in the opening stint, but Evrard was able to pass Maini’s teammate Michele Beretta at the end of the second hour. Magnus bought the #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II home 5.365 seconds ahead of GetSpeed’s Mikael Grenier, with Haupt Racing Team finishing third.
Boutsen VDS’ #10 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo took a dominant win in the Silver Cup, with Roee Meyuhas, Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau finishing in sixteenth overall. Second place went to Winward Racing’s #57 AMG GT3 Evo, which had started from the very back of the field, with Dinamic GT’s #55 Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) rounding out the podium.
It was a similarly dominant display in the Bronze Cup by Rutronik Racing’s #97 911 GT3.R (992) of Dustin Blattner, Loek Hartog and Dennis Marschall, which led the class throughout to head a Porsche 1-2. Second place went to Lionspeed GP’s #80 entry, with Barwell Motorsport’s #78 Huracan GT3 Evo2 rounding out the podium after Century Motorsport’s #991 BMW recieved a five-second penalty post-race. Following its involvement in the opening lap melee, the championship leading #52 AF Corse Ferrari finished outside of the points, but retains a reduced four point lead over Sky-Tempesta Racing.
The Endurance Cup season resumes at Monza on the 22nd September, but before then is the penultimate Sprint Cup round at Magny-Cours on the 24th/25th August.
Pics SRO/ JEP
