Garage 59 dominated qualifying for the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this morning.
The British outfit’s McLaren GT3 Evos were the class of the field, with its #58 Gold Cup entry of Adam Smalley, Louis Prette and Dean Macdonald besting the sister #59 of Joseph Loake, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Benjamin Goethe by 0.001 seconds.
The #59 McLaren led the way after the opening two sessions, thanks to Kirchhöfer going fastest overall in Q2, but Macdonald lowered the #58’s average to a 1:39.674 in Q3, overhauling Goethe and clinching pole by the finest of margins.
It is McLaren’s second Endurance Cup pole position of the season, following the 24 Hours of Spa, and the first-ever overall pole for a Gold Cup runner in the Endurance Cup.
“It’s amazing!” exclaimed Prette. “We’ve been close a few times this year, but all three of us did a mega job. Yesterday, we were in a bit of a struggle, but [the team] overnight did a mega job once again.”
“We’ve had no luck all year,” Smalley added. “We’ve been, safe to say, one of the fastest without luck and I think now’s our time just to show everyone what we’re capable of.”
Third overall was the #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Vincent Abril and Ye Yifei, which topped Q1 in the hands of the Italian. The #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 Evo qualified fourth.
Garage 59’s success continued in the Silver Cup, where its #188 McLaren of Guilherme Oliveira, James Baldwin and Thomas Fleming scored pole position in fifth overall with an average lap time of 1:40.120. For Oliveira and Fleming, it’s an incredible fourth Endurance Cup class pole of the season, split across two different classes.
Sixth went to the championship-leading #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER entry, after a consistent session by Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel. The ‘Mamba’ AMG GT3 Evo was amongst the first cars out on track in each session, compromising outright speed to minimise the risk of traffic or track limit offences.
The #50 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari was seventh, ahead of the #63 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, #23 Team RJN McLaren and #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).
This means Patric Niederhauser, Alessio Picariello and Sven Müller will start the race four places behind their drivers’ championship rivals, whom they currently trail by five points.
The third overall title contender, the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, will now require a miraculous comeback to make up its 17-point deficit after qualifying a lowly 21st on the grid. Kelvin van der Linde was seventh in Q1, but neither Charles Weerts nor Ugo De Wilde could place the BMW inside the top 30 in their respective sessions.
The best of the Gold Cup title contenders was the #111 CSA Racing McLaren, in 11th overall, with the points-leading #33 Verstappen.Com Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo joining them on the sixth row of the grid.
Behind the high-flying #188 McLaren, the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II qualified second in the Silver Cup, in 13th overall. The #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG was third, with the championship-leading #42 Century Motorsport BMW sixth.
And in the Bronze Cup, Kessel Racing scored a 1-2 with its pair of Ferraris, led by the #8 296 GT3 of David Fumanelli, Nicolò Rosi and Niccolò Schirò in 23rd overall. Dennis Marschall, in the Swiss outfit’s #74 entry, was fastest in Q3 with the best individual lap of qualifying, a 1:39.241.
Winward Racing’s Bronze Cup drivers’ title aspirations suffered a major blow in Q2, when Rinat Salikhov pulled off mere metres after crossing the pit exit line. The #81 Mercedes-AMG was pushed back and out of qualifying, and therefore will start the race from the back of the 60-car field.
The other car not to set a lap in all three sessions was the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin, after Oliver Söderström fell foul of track limits on each of his flying laps in Q2.
The final, three-hour race of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season begins at 15:00 CEST.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
