CMR’s Ethan Gialdini and Mikkel Njor have become the first repeat winners of the 2026 GT2 European Series, as the season crossed over the halfway mark at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
The #3 Ginetta G56 GT2 pairing triumphed in Race 2 at the Italian venue, after MZR Motorsportzentrum Ried claimed Race 1 honours post-race when the #18 LP Racing Maserati was disqualified for being underweight.
This denied Célia Martin a piece of history, after she briefly became GT2’s first female race winner.
In Race 1, Antoine Potty took the start from pole aboard his #7 i4Race Maserati but was immediately passed by Njor, who muscled his Ginetta into the lead at Turn 2. It was a brief spell at the front for the Dane, with Potty blasting back into first at the start of the second tour.
Martin also made a good getaway in the #18 Maserati. The Masters class pole-sitter climbed from fifth on the grid to third overall, then took second as she repeated Potty’s pass on the Ginetta. The order at the front stabilised at this point, with Potty looking to have the legs on the chasing pack.
But his impressive run ended with a frightening accident. Coming through the fast turn 9, the Maserati wobbled and then speared straight into the gravel at unabated speed, ploughing through several rows of tyres before clearing the barrier. The Maserati was severely damaged, but miraculously Potty was able to exit his car unaided, although scans later revealed the Belgian had sustained a slight fracture in his T5 vertebra.
A red flag was the only option, with considerable work required to repair the barriers. The cars returned to the track 45 minutes later, an impressively fast turnaround given the severity of the impact.
Racing resumed just ahead of the pit window with Martin leading from the sister #88 LP Racing Audi of Stefan Rosina, and remaining out front for two laps before ducking in to hand over to co-driver Luca Pirri. Once the cycle of stops was complete the #18 Maserati still led from the #88 Audi, which was now driven by Lorenzo Marcucci.
Marcucci gradually closed on Pirri, eventually catching his team boss with a handful of laps to run. He made a pass on the penultimate tour, seemingly putting the wraps on both the overall and Silver wins. But, just moments after the overtake, Marcucci lost control of the Audi in a low-speed corner, spinning and dropping behind the #18 Maserati and MZR’s #119 KTM of Marius Aigner and Reinhard Kofler.
This allowed Pirri to complete a very impressive performance from himself and Martin, provisionally giving the LP Racing duo an overall and Masters double until the car was found to be 13 kilograms underweight post-weight.
This handed overall honours to the Pro-Am victors, Aigner and Kofler, who secured Pro-Am victory after passing the #62 CMR Ginetta of Mike Simpson and Lawrence Tomlinson during the second stint.
Marcucci came home second overall and took the Silver win despite his late spin, with the Pro-Am #110 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG of Moritz Wiskirchen and Wilhelm Kühne completing the podium.
Philippe Prette’s Masters-winning #1 LP Racing Maserati, the #8 LP Racing Maserati shared by Thomas Yu Lee and Niccoló Pirri and the #62 Ginetta rounded out the top six.
Several penalties were handed out during the race. Among the most impactful, the #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG lost a likely Pro-Am podium after being handed a drive-through for a safety car restart infringement. This dropped championship leaders David Thilenius and Jay Mo Härtling to sixth in class.
The #3 Ginetta, meanwhile, was forced to retire with suspension damage.
Ethan Gialdini and Mikkel Njor, however, bounced back from a troubled Saturday to score their second overall victory of the season in the weekend’s final GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli race at Misano, with the #3 CMR Ginetta scorching through the order late on to score big.
The 50-minute contest began with a revised grid as the pole-sitting #7 i4Race Maserati of Antoine Potty was unable to run following his high-speed accident in Race 1. This meant that the twin SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMGs shared the front row and, with their pro drivers at the controls, they dominated the early phase of the race.
Jay Mo Härtling led away from pole in the #111 AMG but came under immediate pressure from the sister #110 machine of Moritz Wiskirchen. The lead changed hands on the second lap and Wiskirchen appeared to be in control, only for the Schnitzelalm duo to swap back on lap 5.
The German squad’s hopes of a one-two finish were scuppered shortly afterwards when the #110 suddenly slowed and stopped on the back straight. It restarted but stopped again at the same spot next time around. Wiskirchen then called into the pits, after which the issue was resolved, but the repairs cost him three laps.
Härtling now had a commanding advantage, pulling more than 13 seconds clear by the time he made his pit stop. Thilenius assumed the controls of the #111 Mercedes-AMG and emerged with a big gap to his closest Pro-Am challenger. Class honours appeared to be secure.
But the overall result was another matter. The man on the move during the second stint was Njor, after Gialdini had climbed from fifth to third during the opening stint.
The Dane quickly closed on Thilenius, whose focus was on securing the Pro-Am win. The Ginetta driver made a simple move to claim the overall victory, while he and Gialdini also took a third Silver win from six races. With their closest rival Potty unable to compete, they now hold a commanding championship lead.
Stefan Rosina and Lorenzo Marcucci claimed second – both overall and in Silver – with their LP Racing Audi. Rosina also passed Thilenius late on, but the #111 Mercedes-AMG still comfortably won the Pro-Am class, extending its own points advantage.
Viktor Mraz and Davit Kajaia secured the Masters class win aboard their RTR Projects KTM, running clear of Luca Pirri and Celia Martin’s #18 LP Racing Maserati. Philippe Prette looked set to complete the podium until a late clash put the #1 Maserati out with suspension damage.
The GT2 European Series resumes at Zandvoort on 18th to 20th September 2026.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
