The GT4 European Series heads back to Italy this weekend, with the second half of the 2026 season commencing at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
A total of 38 cars from nine different manufacturers and operated by 22 different teams will contest the twin sprint races at the seaside venue, which has been a mainstay of the calendar since 2022.
Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport secured its first-ever double victory last time out at Spa with Gabriele Piana and Thomas Rackl, and in doing so the #12 BMW pairing have catapulted themselves into the Silver title fight.
Piana and Rackl now sit just 30 points behind runaway early leaders Enrico Förderer and Cedric Fuchs in the #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG, who won three of the opening four races. Borusan has a strong history at Misano too, having had a car on the podium in four of the last six races at the track, so there is every chance to gap could close yet more.
Lucas Cartelle and Hudson Schwartz sit third for the new CRT-Sport Toyota team but have ground to make up after a tricky last round, whilst Elite Motorsport arrives with plenty of momentum from Spa with McKenzy Cresswell and Charlie Hart keen to build on their twin poles and podiums in Belgium aboard the #78 McLaren.
12 months ago, Team Speedcar’s Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani successfully swept Misano on their way to the 2025 Silver drivers’ title. So far this year, their title defence hasn’t gone as planned, with the #1 Audi pairing already 65 points back after picking up just two top six finishes. Could Misano be the round where their season gets back on track?
Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos have thrived at Misano before too, taking their breakthrough win there in the NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG back in 2024, whilst Sam Paley and Michiel Haverans have strong form after two podiums in the last two events in the #68 TeamFloral Ford Mustang.
Pro-Am features a strong 15-car entry, with Joakim Walde and Victor Bouveng leading the way through superb consistency so far. The #98 Schubert Motorsport BMW pair have yet to finish a race outside of the podium places, with two wins giving them a healthy class lead.
Daniel Drexel and Chris Salkeld kept the heat on with their second win of the year last time out, but a costly non-score in the Spa opener has left the #70 Razoon – more than racing BMW pair 48 points off Schubert’s pace. Father-and-son team Paolo and Davide Meloni have scored consistent points to make it three M4s at the top of the table in their #53 W&D Racing Team entry, while Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead run fourth and are hunting their first win in the #71 Elite McLaren.
Am honours will again be played out across a straight fight between W&S Motorsport’s #30 Porsche in the hands of Daniel Blickle and Max Kronberg, Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen’s #55 Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra and Julien Ripert’s #44 Team Speedcar Audi. Blickle leads the way by 28 points after twin wins at Spa, with his team-mate Kronberg fourth after missing the season opener.
Race 1 at Misano will take place at 17:35 CEST on Saturday 18th July 2026, with the second encounter following at 11:50 CEST the next day.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
