Maro Engel and Lucas Auer took a commanding victory in Race 2 of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season opening weekend at Brands Hatch.
Engel started from pole position in the #48 Winward Racing Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, and held the lead as Emil Frey Racing’s Chris Lulham and Barwell Motorsport’s Sandy Mitchell fought over second.
A Safety Car before the pit window bunched the field together, and Engel pitted at the first opportunity, with Auer emerging with the race lead still intact. Behind, a rapid pit stop by Team WRT allowed Charles Weerts to jump into second in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which had entered the pit sequence in sixth.
A second Safety Car set up an 11-minute sprint to the finish, with Auer setting the fastest lap of the race as he pulled clear of Weerts and took victory by 1.308 seconds.
It’s the sixth time in a row that a Mercedes-AMG has won at Brands Hatch, and a strong start to Auer and Engel’s defence of their drivers’ title.
Weerts held onto second for himself and Kelvin van der Linde, with the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) of Patric Niederhauser and Sven Müller completing the podium.
Benjamin Goethe and Marvin Kirchhöfer finished fourth in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo, ahead of the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Mitchell and Hugo Cook.
Gold Cup victory went to the #777 AlManar Racing by Team WRT BMW, in eighth overall. Jens Klingmann entered the pit window fourth, but more superb pit work from the Belgian squad saw Al Faisal Al Zubair emerge in the lead.
Silver Cup honours went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Alex Aka and Ezequiel Perez Companc, following a post-race penalty for the #10 Boutsen VDS AMG GT3 Evo of Cesar Gazeau and Aurelien Panis after a breach of Full Course Yellow procedures.
GRT Grasser Racing Team’s disastrous weekend continued, with Baptiste Moulin ending his race in the gravel at Sheene Curve aboard the #19 Huracán GT3 Evo2, and Jordan Pepper picking up a drive-through penalty in the Pro #63 following contact with James Kell in the #112 CSA Racing McLaren.
The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup continues at Circuit Zandvoort on 16-18 May, when the Bronze Cup competitors will join the action.
More to follow…
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
