A record grid is set to contest this weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup event at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, France, with 44 cars entered for the third round of the season.
This is one more than the previous high mark, 43, which was achieved at Misano in each of the past two seasons.
The field is divided into 14 cars in Pro, eight in the Gold Cup, 11 in Silver and 11 in Bronze.
The new addition comes from Sainteloc Racing, which is set to make its first Sprint Cup appearance of 2026 at its home event. Jim Pla and Michael Blanchemain will share the #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in the Bronze Cup.
At Boutsen VDS, Alessio Picariello, not Morris Schuring, will drive alongside Dorian Boccolacci in the #2 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) this weekend, whilst Mikkel Pedersen will share the Silver Cup-entered #9 Pure Rxcing Porsche with Aliaksandr Malykhin, with Riccardo Pera absent on IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup duties.
Elsewhere, Jules Gounon is set to continue aboard the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 EVO alongside Dani Juncadella, as Chris Lulham recovers from having his appendix removed.
The field was initially set to be 45 cars, but the #914 Razoon – more than Racing Porsche is a late withdrawal for the second consecutive meeting. No drivers had been named for the Silver Cup effort.
After a double-victory at Misano, defending champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts head to France at the top of the drivers’ standings, having scored 46.5 points aboard the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo so far this season.
The pair currently have a 14-point advantage, the largest lead in the Sprint Cup since 2023.
2024 champions Lucas Auer and Maro Engel sit second aboard the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, following a consistent run of three consecutive podium finishes in the Sprint Cup, and six in seven starts once the Endurance Cup is also factored in.
Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller are two points further back in the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche, ahead of Juncadella, the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer, and the #46 Team WRT BMW of Max Hesse and Valentino Rossi.
Several crews will be looking to kickstart their season at Magny-Cours, after difficult showings at Brands Hatch and Misano.
Amongst them is the #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo of Marvin Kirchhöfer and Dean MacDonald, with the pair currently 11th in the drivers’ championship with just one top-six finish to their names. Garage 59 and Kirchhöfer are defending winners at Magny-Cours, having triumphed in Race 2 last year.
The early signs are promising for the British squad, after MacDonald topped the pre-event test by 0.173 seconds from Juncadella. All 44 runners took to the circuit for the two hours of running, which started in wet conditions but ended in the dry.
Also in need of a strong showing are the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche and #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Kobe Pauwels and Nicki Thiim, which both failed to score at Misano.
The #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Patric Niederhauser and Luca Engstler, meanwhile, is still waiting to get off the mark. The German squad will be hoping that the Temerario’s DTM form can carry over to the Sprint Cup, with the new-for-2026 racer having claimed it’s first global victory at Oschersleben last weekend.
In the teams’ championship, Team WRT is 16.5 points ahead of Winward Racing, with Lionspeed GP 20.5 points behind in third.
AF Corse’s Tommaso Mosca and Matias Zagazeta lead the Gold Cup in the #51 Ferrari, with Garage 59’s Louis Prette and Tom Fleming having moved up to second, eighth points behind, after a pair of runner-up finishes in Misano aboard the #58 McLaren.
CSA Racing, the only full-time French squad in the Sprint Cup, has scored podium finishes with both of its McLarens already this season, and its #555 entry of Romain Andriolo and Simon Gachet heads to the team’s home event third in the standings.
The form car in Gold is the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka and Dylan Pereira, which won both races at Misano to climb up to fourth in the championship.
In Silver, the #30 Team WRT BMW of Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont has a comfortable 15.5-point advantage, after claiming four podium finishes, including two wins, across the four races so far in 2026.
The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin of Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez is second, having scored a pair of runner-up results in Misano, with the #6 GetSpeed Team BartoneBros Mercedes-AMG of Aurelien Panis and Anthony Bartone having climbed up to third after winning Race 2 in Italy.
And in the Bronze Cup, which made its season debut at Misano, the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst has surged into an early lead after finishing second and first across the two races on the Adriatic coast.
The #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG of Gabriel Rindone and Fabian Schiller is seven points behind in second, with the #222 2Seas Motorsport entry of Kiern Jewiss and Charles Dawson completing a Mercedes-AMG 1-2-3.
The defending champion, the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall, is currently 13 points back in fifth, after Misano was the first round where Blattner/Marschall failed to record a top-two finish in Bronze since Hockenhiemring 2024.
Track action at Magny-Cours will begin on Thursday 30th July, with the pre-event paid test, before a pair of Free Practice sessions take place on Friday 31st.
FP2 will be held at night, in preparation for the second night race of the season. The first 60-minute encounter will start at 21:05 CEST on Saturday 1st August, with Qualifying 1 proceeding it at 14:55 CEST.
Qualifying 2 will take place at 10:50 CEST on Sunday 2nd, setting the grid for the second 60-minute race, which will begin at 15:30 CEST.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
