Free Practice
Jules Gounon topped Free Practice for the final race of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in his #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 Evo.
The Andorran-flagged racer reeled off a pair of fast lap times around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya shortly before the halfway point of the two-hour session. The first, a 1:40.982, put him at the top of the timesheets, with a 1:40.793 on his next lap, the eventual fastest time.
It has been a strong start at Barcelona for the #17 Mercedes-AMG, which is looking to salvage a disappointing 2025 campaign, after Gounon’s co-driver, Luca Stolz, was fastest in Thursday’s pre-event test.
Second overall, 0.265 seconds behind Gounon, was Augusto Farfus in the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo. More time is certainly on the table; however, the Brazilian gave up over four-tenths in the final sector on his quickest lap.
Third was the best of the title contenders, the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Patric Niederhauser, with Reece Barr fourth in the Gold Cup-leading #23 Team RJN McLaren GT3 Evo.
Alessio Rovera was fifth fastest in the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3, ahead of Louis Prette’s #58 Garage 59 McLaren and the championship-leading #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry of Lucas Auer.
Patrick Kolb headed the Bronze Cup runners in eighth overall aboard the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche, but it was far from a smooth session for the German outfit.
Shortly after setting his class-topping 1:41.536, Kolb went off at Turn 3, damaging the front of his Porsche and triggering the only Red Flag of Free Practice.
14 minutes of track time were lost to barrier repairs, whilst Lionspeed was able to repair its 911 GT3 R (992) in time to return to the circuit in the closing minutes of the session.
Sean Gelael’s #991 Paradine Competition BMW and the Silver Cup-topping #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG of Loris Cabirou completed the top 10.
Ivan Ekelchik’s illness has forced a late change of driver in the #19 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2. Ekelchik has been replaced by Isaac Tutumlu Lopez, who raced for CSA Racing in the Sprint Cup, in the Austrian squad’s Silver Cup entry.
Pre-Qualifying
Garage 59’s Benjamin Goethe was fastest in GT World Challenge Europe Pre-Qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this afternoon.
Goethe set a 1:40.870 on his first flying lap in the #59 McLaren GT3 Evo, a time which went unchallenged for the remainder of the 60-minute session. The quickest laps all came at the beginning of Pre-Qualifying, with the top three all setting their best times on their first attempt.
“It’s looking promising so far,” Goethe said. “It was a pretty clean lap from myself, and the pace on the old tyres looks pretty good from the other two boys [co-drivers Marvin Kirchhöfer and Joseph Loake].”
Bastian Buus was second fastest in the Dinamic GT-supported #888 UNX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), 0.267 seconds off Goethe’s benchmark, and 0.164 seconds ahead of fellow Bronze Cup runner Dennis Marschall and his #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
The second Garage 59 McLaren, the Gold Cup-entered #58 of Louis Prette, was fourth, with Fabian Schiller fifth fastest in the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 Evo, which has led the way so far this week.
Tommaso Mosca was sixth in the #52 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari, ahead of Thomas Preining’s #911 Pure Rxcing Porsche and the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry of Maro Engel.
Ninth went to Engel’s Winward Racing teammate, the #81 AMG GT3 Evo of Marvin Dienst, with Eddie Cheever completing the top 10 in the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari.
Fastest in the Silver Cup was the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche, in 14th overall, thanks to a 1:42.012 from Mikkel Pedersen.
Pre-Qualifying ran without major incident, with the most significant issue befalling the #15 BMW Italia Ceccato Racing M4 GT3 Evo, which stopped out on circuit in the final minute of the session.
It has been a difficult day for Team WRT and its #32 BMW, which has failed to light up the timing screens at any point and struggled to stay within the track limits. After being 29th in Free Practice, the championship outsider was 59th of 60 cars in Pre-Qualifying, almost three seconds off the pace.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
