The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season concludes this weekend at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, with six crews set to fight it out for the drivers’ title. Team WRT’s Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts head to Spain with a narrow 1.5-point advantage.
The #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo has recorded the most podium finishes of anyone this season, five, headlined by a win at Zandvoort. Weerts and WRT are also the series’ most recent winners in Valencia, with the Belgian having triumphed alongside Dries Vanthoor in 2023.
Their closest challengers are the #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo duo of Benjamin Goethe and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The German pairing is currently the form squad in the series, having won two of the last three races to become the only repeat winners of 2025.
Rutronik Racing’s Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser sit third in the standings aboard the #96 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), a further seven points behind the McLaren and a single point ahead of the #48 Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of defending drivers’ champions Lucas Auer and Maro Engel.
Two more crews enter the finale as mathematical contenders, but very much outsiders after struggling to match the consistency of their rivals this season. Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper are 20 points behind aboard the #63 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, whilst Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera need to make up 27.5 points in the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 with only 35 available.
The six outfits involved in the drivers’ title battle are also still contenders for the teams’ championship. Here, Team WRT hold a 6.5-point advantage over Garage 59, with the remaining contenders all at least 13.5 points behind.
The title contenders are joined by six more entries in the 12-car Pro field, which has decreased by one car for this weekend. The #64 HRT Ford Performance Mustang GT3, which Jusuf Owega and Romain Andriolo have been piloting so far this season, is absent following Andriolo’s shunt in Race 1 at the previous round at Magny-Cours.
In the Gold Cup, all five entries present this weekend are still in title contention. The class’ sixth car in recent rounds, the #76 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Bijoy Garg and Ricky Collard, was withdrawn from the rest of the GT World Challenge Europe season following Magny-Cours.
Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen lead the way aboard the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, 2.5 points ahead of the #25 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Paul Evrard and Gilles Magnus. The Emil Frey Racing duo dominated the opening half of the season, but multiple incidents mean they have scored only one podium finish in the last four races.
Louis Prette is 10 points behind in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren he has shared with Thomas Fleming since Misano, with Tresor Attempto Racing’s #88 Audi of Sebastian Øgaard and Leonardo Moncini 17 points back in fourth. The #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW of Jens Klingmann and Al Faisal Al Zubair is the final contender, 21.5 points behind Lulham/Vermeulen.
In the 10-car Silver Cup, Comtoyou Racing’s #21 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Kobe Pauwels and Jamie Day leads the way after winning the previous three races, and not finishing outside of the top four since the season opener.
2024 runners-up Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau are six points back in the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG, with the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka and Ezequiel Perez Companc a further 7.5 points behind in third. Only Aka can win the title, however, as Perez Companc has been replaced by Alexey Nesov for this weekend.
Also in contention are Lorens Lecertua and Ivan Klymenko in the #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi, the #992 Paradine Competition BMW of Maxime Oosten and Mex Jansen, and the #52 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari of Jef Machiels and Marcos Siebert.
The Silver Cup field has grown for this weekend, with Comtoyou Racing doubling its effort through the addition of the #11 Aston Martin for Jessica Hawkins and Rodrigo Almeida.
The 40-car field in Valencia is completed by the 13-car Bronze Cup.
In the drivers’ championship, the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari pairing of Dennis Marschall and Dustin Blattner leads the way, 6.5 points ahead of #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche pilots Bashar Mardini and Bastian Buus. Both crews have two wins so far this season, and have already exchanged the points lead three times.
Rinat Salikhov, who won the previous race at Magny-Cours alongside Marvin Dienst, is 12 points behind the leader in the #81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, and two points ahead of the #85 Imperiale Racing Lamborghini of Loris Spinelli and Dmitry Gvazava.
Darren Leung, at 28 points behind, still holds a slim chance of retaining his title. The Briton will be joined by Jake Dennis in the #991 Paradine Competition BMW this weekend, with his regular co-driver Daniel Harper on IMSA duties.
The #1 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Christian Engelhart and Georgi Donczew, which missed the Magny-Cours event following a fiery shunt for Donczew at Misano, is returning, whilst QMMF by Sainteloc Racing has made a wholesale change to the line-up of its #27 Audi, with Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi and Julian Hanses replacing Ibrahim Al-Abdulghani and Ghanim Salah Al-Maadheed. Al-Khelaifi and Hanses have both raced for the team in the Endurance Cup this season.
Elsewhere, CSA Racing is yet to confirm the line-up for either of its McLaren GT3 Evos. Only Simon Gachet has been named in the #111 Pro entry, with Arthur Rougier the only driver listed for the Bronze Cup-entered #112. Rougier’s co-driver so far this season, Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, sustained multiple injuries following an accident at the previous round at Magny-Cours.
Rougier, at 33.5 points behind Blattner/Marschall, is mathematically still a title contender, but as a Gold-ranked driver is ineligible to win the Bronze Cup drivers’ title solo.
With more points available this weekend than at next month’s Endurance Cup finale at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, all eight of GT World Challenge Europe’s season-long contests could also be settled this weekend.
The overall drivers’ championship is unlikely to be decided, with Auer/Engel leading Müller/Niederhauser and van der Linde/Weerts by only four and 7.5 points respectively. The teams’ championship is even closer, with only three points separating Winward, WRT and Rutronik.
Another competition which could be determined this weekend is 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. Here, the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari is 33 points clear of the #81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Track action in Valencia begins on Friday, 19th September, with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying. Both Saturday and Sunday will play host to a qualifying session and a 60-minute race, with the races starting at 14:15 CEST and 14:45 CEST, respectively.
Images courtesy of SRO/Patrick Hecq Photography and SRO/JEP
