The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup has attracted another 59-car field for the second round of the season at Monza.
The series’ largest grid at the Italian venue since 2013 features 16 Pro entries, 10 Gold Cup cars, 17 entries in the Silver Cup and 16 in the Bronze Cup.
The entry features the same cars as the season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard, although multiple teams have made changes to their driver line-ups. Many of these are down to a clash with the IMSA Sportscar Championship event at Detroit.
Morris Schuring and Larry Ten Voorde have joined Schumacher CLRT in place of Klaus Bachler and Laurin Heinrich. The Dutch drivers will share the Pro #22 Porsche 911 GT3.R (992), which finished on the podium at Circuit Paul Ricard, with Ayhancan Güven.
Schuring moves over from his full-season drive in the Bronze Cup-entered #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche, in which Antares Au and Loek Hartog are set to drive as a duo.
At VSR, Mattia Michelotto replaces Marco Mapelli alongside Franck Perera and Sandy Mitchell in the Pro-entered #163 VSR Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.
4x British Touring Car Champion Ashley Sutton is set to make his GT World Challenge Europe debut in Paradine Competition’s Bronze Cup-entered #991 BMW M4 GT3 Evo. The Briton is replacing Dan Harper alongside Sean Gelael and Darren Leung.
Steller Motorsport has made a change to its #24 Corvette Z06 GT3.R crew, with Daniel Ali joining Lorcan Hanafin and Matisse Lismont for the rest of the season in the car, which finished second in Silver at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Also in Silver, Mikkel Pedersen has joined Dinamic GT’s #54 Porsche line-up in place of Mateo Llarena, whilst the #611 Nordique Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo has switched from Pro to the Gold Cup with Tim Sandtler replacing Fuji 24 Hours-bound Yuichi Nakayama.
Notably, the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari 296 GT3 features an unchanged trio of Eddie Cheever, Chris Froggatt and Marco Pulcini, despite the team previously announcing Jonathan Hui would join the crew for this weekend.
Team WRT heads to Monza in the Endurance Cup championship lead, after Ugo De Wilde, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts won at Circuit Paul Ricard in the #32 BMW. The #32 crew lead Rutronik Racing’s Sven Müller, Patric Niederhauser and Alessio Picariello by nine points in the drivers’ championship, with Bachler, Güven and Heinrich a further five points behind in third.
WRT also leads the overall championship scored across both the Endurance and Sprint Cups, 13.5 points ahead of Rutronik. Van der Linde and Weerts head Müller and Niederhauser by the same margin in the drivers’ standings.
The Belgian squad took victory at Monza last year, following a sensational comeback drive from Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam De Haan and Jens Klingmann to lead home a WRT 1-2. Only Klingmann returns to the race this year, sharing the #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW with Al Faisal Al Zubair and Ben Tuck in the Gold Cup.
Last season was the second consecutive BMW 1-2 at Monza, after Rowe Racing achieved the same feat in 2023. No manufacturer has won an Endurance Cup race at the same venue three years in a row, giving BMW and its fleet of eight M4 GT3 Evos a chance at making history.
Defending champions’ AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors will be looking to rebound on home soil after a difficult weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard, where the best-placed of its Ferrari 296 GT3s finished 15th. Vincent Abril, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera finished third at Monza last year, and were arguably the quickest car, but lost out due to the unique three mandatory pitstop format, which returns this season.
Also looking to strike back following a challenging opener will be Garage 59. The British outfit had the pace to fight for the race victory at the French venue, but none of its trio of McLaren GT3 Evos finished the race without significant delays.
As Circuit Paul Ricard is the only Endurance Cup event to have taken place so far this season, the Endurance Cup standings mirror the results from the South of France.
The #111 CSA Racing McLaren of Simon Gachet, James Kell and Arthur Rougier heads the Gold Cup, whilst Paradine Competition’s #992 BMW of Charles Clark, Pedro Ebrahim and James Kellett holds an early lead in Silver.
Kessel Racing leads the Bronze Cup, following an impressive comeback drive from its #74 Ferrari of Dustin Blattner, Conrad Laursen and Dennis Marschall to take the class win.
In the battle for an automatic invitation to the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans, which is awarded to the best entry in the Bronze Cup across both Endurance and Sprint, Kessel Racing’s #74 Ferrari has a 16.5-point advantage over the #991 Paradine Competition BMW.
Track action at Monza begins with a pair of paid test sessions and the Bronze Test on Friday, 30th May, ahead of Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying on Saturday. Qualifying and the three-hour race will take place on Sunday, 1st June.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
