Elite Motorsport’s Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon mastered intermittent and changing wet conditions at the Hockenheimring en route to Race 2 victory.
The #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo secured Maranello’s 115th win in the International GT Open, and Elite Motorsport’s fifth win this season, four of which have come on Sunday rather than the Saturday sprint race.
“The first stint was so tricky with the rain,” Emson said. “It was only raining in Sector 2, but sometimes at Turn 6, sometimes at Turn 2. It was never consistent, so it was really hard to make the call on the pit stop as well.”
“It was difficult,” added Lebbon. “The rain was mainly in Sector 2. The last sector stayed pretty dry, to be fair.
“It was hard work judging it. Being the first one into it at the safety car restart was definitely hard work. It was obviously a good result; Sunday seems to be a good day at the moment.”
Emson pounced on pole-sitter Alex Fontana in the #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo on the run towards Turn 1 at the start, before Fontana clipped the #17 Ferrari’s right-rear corner, causing him to spin into the run-off area.
Rainfall began just as the green flag dropped and intensified throughout the opening portion of the race, making it difficult for drivers who were managing intermittent wet and dry track conditions on slick tyres.
Emson outbraked himself into the Turn 6 hairpin, the heaviest braking zone where most of the rain hit, handing the lead to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Tomasco Mosca with 43 minutes remaining of the 60-minute race.
As the rain caused increasing discomfort for the drivers, some spun out. A full-course yellow (FCY) was deployed to give all teams a fair opportunity to switch to wet tyres in their pit stops.
With Elite Motorsport serving a pit-stop handicap, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Rafael Durán retook the lead, and after a lengthy 17-minute FCY, the race resumed.
In return, Elite (Lebbon) retook the lead from Rafael Durán’s #51 Ferrari into T6 before the #51 received a five-second time penalty for contact with the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche.
The safety car was redeployed just a couple of minutes later when the #16 AF Corse Ferrari of Marcelo Hahn spun and hit the wall at Turn 8, resulting in a double DNF this weekend after driveshaft issues yesterday.
Elite maintained the lead in the five-minute sprint to the finish, extending its championship advantage.
Its nearest rivals endured misfortune: the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo (Christian Mansell/Maximilian Götz) gambled on slicks in the pit stop, which did not pay off as the rain increased — and the #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche (Fontana/Pietro Armanni), which spun at the start and finished P9.
Greystone GT secured a double podium finish for its #44 McLaren GT3 Evo pairing McKenzy Cresswell and rookie Alejandro Geppert, and the #33 McLaren of Dean Macdonald and Zac Meakin.
The #44 Greystone McLaren started down in P8, but Geppert showed impressive form against Götz’s #71 Motopark Mercedes during the opening stint, before Cresswell battled to the end, passing Durán’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari into second place.
In the team’s other McLaren, Zac Meakin struggled in qualifying down in P14 and was unable to progress during the opening stint, as the rain was enough of a challenge to contend with. Macdonald, the factory driver, showcased excellent pace in the end, climbing from P6 to P3 – helped by the #51 AF Corse Ferrari spotted going slow and therefore falling down the order.
Pro-Am’s class pole-sitter, Jonny Adam, spun his #97 Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo on the opening lap at the final corner, losing his third outright position as well. Yesterday’s Pro-Am winner, #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes (Yannick Mettler/Dexter Müller) pitted with a suspected issue after just two laps.
Instead, the #26 Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 took its first Pro-Am win of 2026, being the only Pro-Am car to start with its Amateur-graded driver, Michaël Blanchemain in their case, to enable his teammate Jim Pla to fight amongst the top 10 and most notably, pass the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche of Alexander Schwarzer into fourth outright.
Despite its spin, Fach Auto Tech’s #11 Porsche (Schwarzer and Alexander Fach) salvaged fifth place, second in Pro-Am.
Lorenzo Ferrari finished sixth in the #96 AF Corse Ferrari, which he shares with Yaroslav Vesalaho. They beat Dominik Bauman and Marcelo Ramírez in the #28 Motopark Mercedes, as well as Gilles Renmans and Leonardo Colavita, who debuted in the #62 Doublett Racing Ferrari.
After taking second in Pro-Am yesterday, Darren Kell took third today and finalised a double podium weekend for the Track Focused #88 McLaren, a car he shares driving duties with his son James.
Marcin Jedliński brought the #777 Olimp Racing Ferrari in 11th overall, P4 in Pro-Am, with his teammate Karol Basz.
Blackthorn’s Charles Bateman was tied for points with Alexander Fach’s #11 Porsche into this race, so the #97 Aston Martin claimed P12 outright and P5 in Pro-Am.
Not only did the #16 AF Corse Ferrari crash after leading from the first lap, but the debuting #67 Förch Racing by Atlas Ward Porsche claimed the Am-class lead.
Fach Auto Tech’s #12 Porsche driver Lucas Wolf inherited the lead after Osman’s crash, but after running wide, the #67 Porsche prevailed and earned their first victory in the hands of Jakub Dwernicki and Tomasz Magdziarz.
Behind the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, which finished 14th overall, was the sixth Pro-Am-placed #75 Team ISR Audi of Libor Milota and his teammate Filip Salaquarda.
Alfredo Hernandez took second in Am for the #77 Grupo Racing Mercedes, followed in the overall order by the #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 (Leonardo Moncini/Rodrigo Testa) and the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes.
Lucas Wolf rounded out the top three in the Am category in 19th overall, with only the #54 Mercedes and the #16 Ferrari retiring despite a hectic and exciting race.
Images courtesy of GT Sport
