Borusan Otomotive Motorsport has scored its maiden GT4 European Series clean sweep, with its #12 BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Thomas Rackl and Gabriele Piana triumphing in both races a the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
From 15th on the grid after a tough qualifying, few would have put their bets on Rackl and Piana to win Race 1, but a smooth opening stint allied to an inspired early pit stop helped them leapfrog up the order.
Rackl took the start and soon began to work his way forwards, putting the #12 BMW just inside the top 10 by the time the pit window opened and the German dived in at the perfect opportunity. The Borusan team and Piana played the same card here last year, and earned themselves a win then too, taking advantage of a quieter pit lane and the pace of Piana, whose rapid out-lap helped the car immediately vault to fifth by the time the mandatory pit cycle had played out.
In truth, the win should not have been in reach for Piana at this point, as Charlie Hart had led the first half comfortably from the sister Elite Motorsport McLaren of Yani Stevenheydens, surviving some light rainfall to pit for co-driver McKenzy Cresswell with a 1.5s lead. All should have been well when Cresswell took over and rejoined still out front, but the #78 McLaren was handed a 15-second penalty for speeding in the pits, making it a race against time.
Piana still had work to do though, and his thrilling double pass on Joakin Walde’s Pro-Am #98 Schubert Motorsport BMW and Michiel Haverans’ #68 Team Floral Ford Mustang into Les Combes showed his intent. The Italian closed in on Stevenheydens’ teammate Harri Reynolds, eventually passing with a neat move out of Les Combes to secure second. With Cresswell only 11 seconds ahead, it sealed the deal for Rackl and Piana once the penalty was applied to the lead McLaren.
Reynolds and Stevenheydens held off a late charge from Haverans and Sam Paley’s Mustang to claim the final step on the podium, while Roméo Leurs and Roberto Faria were fifth aboard Mirage Racing’s #9 Toyota.
Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos fought their way through traffic to take sixth in the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG. Another Mercedes-AMG caught in the queue was the points-leading #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm car of Enrico Förderer and Cedric Fuchs, which could only manage ninth place. This race also proved another disaster for defending champions Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche, with Lariche having to pit the #1 Team Speedcar Audi with a loss of power before the rolling start.
Walde and Victor Bouveng charged to a dominant Pro-Am class win, their second of the season. Bouveng worked his way past class pole-sitter Charlie Robertson’s #71 Elite Motorsport McLaren and Stefan D’Aste’s #26 PB Racing Lotus early on and was then gifted a lead when the chasing Emira was handed a time penalty for track limits and then fell back with a technical issue.
A clean swap with Walde and impressive pace from the Swede earned eighth place overall, a few spots clear of the #11 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW of Bati Age Yildirim and Yagiz Gedik, and Viny Beltramelli/Sacha Bottemanne’s #3 Team Speedcar Audi, which beat its own track limits penalty to finish third. Robertson and Ramyead lost their chance of a podium to a penalty for also speeding in the pits.
With Julien Ripert’s #44 Team Speedcar Audi pushed off the grid at the start, the Am class was a straight fight between the #55 GR Sweden Supra of Christoffer and Mikael Brunnhagen and W&S Motorsport’s #30 Porsche shared by Daniel Blickle and Max Kronberg. Blickle hounded the Supra until the pit window, when Kronberg took over and took control, cruising clear for a second class win of the year.
Having already won from 15th, the #12 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW entered Race 2 amongst the heavy-favourites, with Gabriele Piana and Thomas Rackl lining up third on the grid, behind the Elite Motorsport McLarens of McKenzy Cresswell and Harri Reynolds.
Piana made short work of both, passing pole-sitter Cresswell when he ran wide through Raidillon before latching onto the back of Reynolds and completing a move for the lead into Bruxelles after a cutback out of Les Combes.
That was the start of trouble for Reynolds as his #77 McLaren was visibly fading in the heat. He let Cresswell through to try and chase Piana, before dropping back across the race.
Up front nobody could live with Piana, who pulled a comfortable gap on Cresswell only to have his hard work undone by a safety car called to retrieve the #43 Toyota from the gravel. Racing resumed just before the pit window opened, with Piana bolting early to immediately build a one-second advantage back to Cresswell. To maximise his track time, Piana stayed out until the final moment on the pit window, building his advantage and handing Rackl a five-second lead over Charlie Hart, who had taken the #78 McLaren over from Cresswell.
All that was left to do was manage the gap, which Rackl did superbly to secure a second win of the weekend.
Michiel Haverans and Sam Paley chased the McLaren home for third, celebrating the #68 Team Floral Ford Mustang’s second podium finish in as many events following its breakthrough at Monza last time out.
Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche took a hard-earned fourth in the #1 Team Speedcar Audi after their disappointing retirement yesterday, while Cedric Fuchs and Enrico Förderer battled through the traffic to fifth to salvage some solid points from an otherwise tough weekend for the #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG. Alex Papadopulos and Lluc Ibañez were sixth for NM Racing Team despite a track limits time penalty.
A solid late defence from Daniel Drexel made for an absorbing Pro-Am fight across the second half, helping he and Chris Salkeld secure a second class victory of the season in the #70 Razoon – more than racing BMW. Salkeld found himself in a three-way fight for the lead with the pole-sitting #11 Borusan BMW of Yagiz Gedik and #3 Team Speedcar Audi of Sacha Bottemanne early on, with the #70 Razoon M4 leapfrogging to the top of the class thanks to a perfectly timed pitstop.
Drexel soaked up pressure from the chasing Charlie Robertson, who benefitted from an early stop from Ravi Ramyead in the #71 Elite McLaren, and Viny Beltramelli, in for Bottemanne in the #3 Audi. All three cars fought through traffic together, with Drexel holding on to secure the win from Robertson. A time penalty for Bottemanne/Beltramelli opened the door for class championship leaders Joakim Walde and Victor Bouveng to extend their podium streak, finishing third in their #98 Schubert Motorsport BMW.
Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle were untroubled in the Am class, largely thanks to their biggest rivals both having issues. Julien Ripert ploughed through the gravel in his #44 Team Speedcar Audi before the #53 GR Sweden Supra shared by Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen stopped with a technical problem, leaving the way clear for the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche to score big.
At the halfway point of the 2026 season, Fuchs/Förderer hold a 30-point lead over Piana/Rackl in the Silver drivers’ championship, with Lariche/Consoni’s title defence seemingly over, as the pair sit in seventh place, 65 points off the lead.
Walde/Bouveng hold a 48-point advantage over Drexel/Salkeld in Pro-Am, whilst Blickle is 28 points ahead of Bruunhagen/Brunnhagen in Am.
The GT4 European Series returns to action at Misano in Italy across the weekend of 17th to 19th July 2026.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
