Winward Racing has revealed its 2025 GT World Challenge Europe driver line-up, confirming that Lucas Auer and Maro Engel will defend the titles they won last season.
The team had an incredible 2024 campaign, which saw Auer and Engel win both the Sprint Cup and overall drivers’ title aboard Winward’s ‘Mann-Filter Mamba’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. This was ably backed up by the sister car claiming Silver Cup honours in the Endurance Cup.
Auer and Engel will again share the #48 AMG GT3 Evo for the full season. Joining them for the Endurance Cup is Matteo Cairoli, who drove for Lamborghini in 2024 but parted ways with the Italian marque over the off-season.
Cairoli has taken three overall victories in the Endurance Cup, all at the wheel of a Dinamic Porsche, with the most recent of them coming in 2022.
Cairoli replaces Daniel Morad, who is contesting IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge series with Winward in 2025.
Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov are the full-season drivers in the team’s second entry, which has moved to the Bronze Cup and been renumbered to #81 for 2025.
The pair recently shared a Winward-entered AMG GT3 Evo in the Asian Le Mans Series, taking a race victory at Sepang on their way to third in the championship.
Joining them for the Endurance rounds is Marvin Dienst, who last contested a full Endurance Cup season in 2021 but made select starts for Dinamic GT last season.
The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Prologue takes place next week at Circuit Paul Ricard on 10-11 March. The same venue will host the season opener on 11-13 April.
