After three rounds taking place in scorching conditions opened the campaign, cooler weather has finally arrived in the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for today’s pair of Free Practice sessions at the Nürburgring.
The fastest time of the day came from the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Raffaele Marciello in the morning session, whilst the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed AMG GT3 EVO of Fabian Schiller, who also topped Friday’s pre-event test, was quickest in the afternoon.
Free Practice 1
Defending Nürburgring winner Raffaele Marciello was fastest in Free Practice 1, aboard ROWE Racing’s #98 BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
The BMW M factory driver set a 1:54.855 early on in the 90-minute session, displacing the #111 CSA Racing McLaren GT3 Evo of Arthur Rougier from the top of the timesheets.
“It’s only FP1,” Marciello stated. “We drove yesterday a bit, but it’s still a long weekend. You never know who is on new tyres [or their] fuel level, but the car feels okay.”
Rougier held on to top the Gold Cup in second overall, 0.115 seconds back, with Jules Gounon third fastest in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 EVO following a 1:55.020 set inside the final 10 minutes.
Teams are dedicating additional resources to qualifying form this weekend, due to the importance of starting position at the Nürburgring, where overtaking has proven difficult in recent years.
“It’s a bit of a weird approach this weekend, because it is an endurance race, but it’s very difficult to overtake,” Gounon’s co-driver Chris Lulham revealed.
“Track position is king. Even though it’s a three-hour race, qualifying will be a big factor.”
To further complicate the challenge of Free Practice, the track has evolved significantly since yesterday’s Private Test, changing the behaviour of cars through the field.
“The track is a bit different compared to yesterday, which is surprisingly positive, because yesterday the track was quite green and had a lot less grip than what we normally experience around here,” Team WRT’s Max Hesse said.
Hesse was fourth fastest in his #46 BMW, ahead of the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo and #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry.
“It’s a difficult track to get the car right, because it’s old asphalt, so tyre degradation is going to play a big role this weekend,” said GetSpeed’s Fabian Schiller, who was not overly concerned about how the colder temperatures would impact their prospects.
“Usually with the Pirelli tyre, the hotter it gets, the better the tyre works, at least for us and our car. But as a team you need to be flexible and make sure your car works in all conditions, and generally I think our car works in all conditions.”
Seventh went to the #64 HRT Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo, ahead of the #60 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, Silver Cup-topping #30 Team WRT BMW of Matisse Lismont and #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
Fastest in the Bronze Cup, in 11th overall, was the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG courtesy of a 1:55.339 from Marvin Dienst.
FP1 was interrupted by a single Red Flag at the halfway mark, to sweep gravel from the circuit at the Veedol Shikane.
Three cars shared the top spot on the mileage charts, with the #4 Optimum Motorsport Mclaren, #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche and #99 Audi each completing 38 laps.
Free Practice 2
Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed’s Fabian Schiller was fastest in Free Practice 2, which took place under brightening skies as an early threat of rain, which saw the track declared wet for the start of the session, failed to materialise.
Schiller set a 1:54.996 early on aboard the #17 AMG GT3 EVO, before later improving further to a 1:54.962.
“We’re pretty happy,” he reflected.
“The car’s running well, the team did a great job and ever since we rolled out the car yesterday we’ve had quite good pace, but obviously tomorrow is the day that counts. Today is just preparation and testing, but it’s always good to start off on the right foot.
“We expect similar conditions tomorrow, maybe a bit more sun so it could be a little warmer. We’ve had very good pace so far this year on every single practice day. Things just haven’t gone our way in the races, but I think we have a good chance tomorrow.”
Paradine Competition’s Dries Vanthoor was second overall, with the Belgian setting a 1:55.174 aboard the #991 BMW M4 GT3 Evo to top the Bronze Cup.
The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO, aboard which Marco Sorensen had been struggling in FP1 with rear stability in tailwinds, was third in the hands of Mattia Drudi, ahead of the #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) of Sven Müller.
The #30 Team WRT BMW was once again the best Silver Cup competitor, in fifth overall thanks to a 1:55.347 from Ignacio Montenegro, ahead of the #23 Team RJN Mclaren GT3 Evo.
The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG, Gold Cup-leading #58 Garage 59 McLaren, #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and #59 Garage 59 McLaren completed the top 10.
Further down the leader board, the best of AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos was back in 36th overall, on a difficult day for the Italian squad.
“We are struggling a bit,” admitted #51 Ferrari pilot Alessio Rovera.
“Yesterday in these cold conditions we struggled quite a lot. We changed the setup yesterday, and today we have another one, and it seems to be a bit better but still we’re missing some grip and pace.
“We’re especially struggling to find the last tenths on new tyres, but we’ll see tomorrow [if] the conditions will be different. Hopefully we can find some pace. On this track, what we miss is a bit of mechanical grip, especially in the first sector.”
The #46 Team WRT BMW covered the most laps, 44, which was two more than the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin and #84 Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.
FP2 ran without any Red Flags, with just a single Full Course Yellow interrupting proceedings after series returnee Sergio Sette Camara went off at Turn 11 aboard the #11 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin.
Qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup will take place tomorrow morning at 9:45 CEST.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
