Garage 59 scored its first outright GT World Challenge Europe victory of 2026 in the opening Sprint Cup race as Zandvoort this afternoon, as Tom Fleming and Louis Prette secured their maiden Sprint Cup victories aboard the #58 McLaren GT3 Evo.
Fleming, from second on the grid, passed the pole-sitting #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) of Morris Schuring at Turn 3 on the opening lap. Despite an early Safety Car, the Briton established a two-second advantage during his stint, which enabled Prette to retain the lead despite the British squad losing time in a crowded pit lane.
The Monegasque driver was almost caught out as he emerged between the #32 Team WRT BMW, which was approaching its pit box, and the #2 Porsche which was released from the pit box behind the McLaren, with him running side-by-side with Schuring’s co-driver Dorian Boccolacci on the approach to the pit lane exit.
Prette initially re-established a margin of over one second, before Boccolacci closed back in to under one second but was unable to get close enough to attempt an overtake, finishing 0.676 seconds behind.
It is the first outright win for a Gold Cup entry in Sprint Cup competition.
“I got a really good run [at the start], and I don’t think the car ahead was expecting it,” Fleming explained. “I had a bit of an overlap into Turn 2 and thought ‘this is my chance to take the lead’. Around a circuit like this I’m going to take it; there was no chance I was backing out of that.
“Thankfully, we had some pretty good speed after the overtake as well to build up a gap and keep the guys behind covered during the pit stop.”
UPDATE: Post-race, Boutsen VDS successfully protested for an unsafe release by the #58 McLaren, which received a five-second time penalty. However, the #2 Porsche separately received a five-second time penalty for still having a mechanic in the working area when the car moved off following its pit stop. This means that the positions went unchanged.
Over 10 seconds behind, a breakthrough defensive drive from Simon Birch almost yielded a first podium for Razoon – more than racing, with the #914 Porsche pilot holding off a train of cars until five minutes to go, when Ben Green passed both Birch and the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Ricardo Feller at Turn 1.
Green and Thierry Vermeulen therefore finished third in the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo for the Swiss squad’s first Sprint Cup podium since Brands Hatch 2025, having climbed through from ninth on the grid.
Birch and Klaus Bachler were fourth, with Feller and Bastian Buus reclaiming the Drivers’ Championship lead in fifth. Despite banking 7.5 vital points, it was a frustrating race for Lionspeed, with Buus spending the majority of the opening stint unable to find a way past the #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Neubauer, before Feller failed to make a move on Birch stick in the second half of the race.
UPDATE: The #80 Porsche received a 29-second post-race time penalty after Bastian Buus was found to have loosened his safety belts whilst at speed. This demoted the #80 Porsche to 23rd overall, meaning that Daniel Juncadella now leads the Drivers’ Championship by 2.5 points over Charles Weerts and Kelvin Van der Linde, with just five points covering the top four crews.
The #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 EVO of Daniel Juncadella and Chris Lulham finished sixth after an impressive charge through the field from 27th on the grid, completed by a last lap overtake by Lulham on the #50 Ferrari that Arthur Leclerc had taken over from Neubauer.
The sister #51 Ferrari finished eighth. Tommaso Mosca ran third in the opening stint aboard the Gold Cup Championship-leading machine, before Matias Zagazeta lost ground at the start of his stint, with the pair’s advantage over the #58 McLaren pairing cut to 9.5 points. The #163 VSR Lamborghini Temerario GT3 completed the Gold Cup podium in 11th overall, off the back of a strong opening lap where Loris Spinelli gained 10 positions.
The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels rounded out the top 10, having gained 27 places from 37th on the grid, whilst falling the other way was the #59 Garage 59 McLaren, which finished 21st having started sixth after Dean Macdonald was forced to take to the escape road at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde forfeited their Drivers’ Championship lead with a second consecutive retirement aboard the #32 Team WRT BMW. Weerts had gained nine places from his 33rd place starting spot during the opening stint, before losing ground on his in lap. Van der Linde then pulled off on the exit of Turn 10 early into his stint due to a water pressure problem.
Silver Cup honours went to the #30 Team WRT BMW of Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro, in ninth overall. The pair led the class throughout from pole position, with the victory securing them the full season Silver Cup Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships with four races to spare.
The #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II finished second, with the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin in third.
And in the Bronze Cup, victory went to the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche of Eddie Cheever and Peter Dempsey.
Cheever was passed by the #991 Paradine Competition BMW of Augusto Farfus on the run to Turn 1, with the Brazilian leading the opening stint before handing over to co-driver Darren Leung. As Leung was overtaken by multiple Pro Cup runners which had started out of position, Dempsey seized his opportunity with 15 minutes to go, passing the BMW around the outside at Turn 10 and pulling away to win by 10.360 seconds.
“Last week, I watched the races from last year, and I could how people could get bottle-necked up a little bit through Turns 7-9,” Dempsey said. “I could see the BMW ahead, he got hung out to loose a little bit, and I was like ‘okay, I’m going to get that one chance to make it happen’. Once I cleared him, I knew we had the pace to stay ahead.”
Leung held on to finish second, ahead of the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst, who retained the Bronze Drivers’ Championship lead.
Kessel Racing’s title defence suffered another blow, after Dennis Marschall picked up a puncture on the opening lap, and the #74 Ferrari could only recover to seventh in class.
The race was interrupted by a single Safety Car, which was deployed inside the opening 10 minutes following contact between the #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Carl Bennett and #31 Team WRT BMW of Amaury Cordeel. Bennett, who was facing the wrong direction in the middle of Turn 3 after a spin, collected Cordeel as he attempted to rejoin, leaving the BMW stranded in the banked corner. Bennett has received a five-place grid penalty for the next race he starts because of the incident.
Race 2 at Zandvoort will take place at 14:15 CEST tomorrow, with Qualifying 2 at 9:35 CEST.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
