Lionspeed GP has taken a major step towards winning the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Drivers’ Championship, after Bastian Buus stormed to a dominant pole position for Race 1 of the season finale at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Buus recorded a 1:39.542 on his first timed lap aboard the #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2), going 0.742 seconds faster than the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of provisional pole sitter Thomas Neubauer.
Improvements from the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche of Sven Müller and #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen subsequently plugged the gap between Buus and Neubauer, but the Dane still ended Group A a mighty 0.575 seconds ahead of his fellow Porsche contracted driver.
After Group B, for Silver Cup and Bronze Cup competitors, the picture looked even brighter for the German squad, with the combination of rapidly improving track conditions and pro drivers qualifying aboard the Bronze Cup machines pushing Buus’ rivals down the leaderboard, but crucially none of them were able to best the 23-year-old’s time.
The bonus point for pole position has extended Buus and co-driver Ricardo Feller’s lead in the standings to 6.5 points over Neubuaer and Arthur Leclerc.
“The car was mega!” Buus declared. ”The team has done really good on the preparations. The lap was good. We had some showers yesterday, so it was more slippery than I expected out there. For sure, championship-wise everything is looking good.”
Kiern Jewiss claimed his second Bronze Cup pole position of the season aboard the #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, with a 1:39.627 placing the Briton second overall.
The #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG of Fabian Schiller was third, ahead of the Silver Cup-topping #71 AF Corse Ferrari of Felix Hirsiger, with the Swiss driver setting a 1:39.953 as the final driver to go below the 1:40-mark.
The #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG was fifth, with Sprint Cup returnee Müller demoted to sixth having been second in Group A.
The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, #991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 Evo, Vermeulen and #27 Kessel Racing Ferrari completed the top 10.
Neubauer wound up 11th overall in the #50 Ferrari, whilst Dylan Pereira claimed Gold Cup pole position aboard the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with a 1:40.366 placing him 14th overall.
It was a difficult session for the pair of Pro Mercedes-AMGs. Lucas Auer qualified eighth in Group A the #48 Winward Racing entry, 0.002 seconds ahead of the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing version of Daniel Juncadella, but this became 20th and 21st on the grid after Group B.
Charles Weerts was 28th in the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, with the sister #46 WRT BMW of Valentino Rossi the last of the mathematical title contenders in 39th overall.
In the Gold Cup championship battle, Tommaso Mosca qualified the #51 AF Corse Ferrari in second in class and 15th overall, with their challenger, the #58 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo, ending up fourth in Gold and fastest McLaren but 31st overall in the hands of Thomas Fleming.
And in Bronze, Drivers’ Championship leader Eddie Cheever was eighth in class and 23rd overall. With all four of Cheever and Peter Dempsey’s rivals starting in the top eight overall, the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche pairing will be under pressure in this afternoon’s race.
Race 1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain will take place later today at 14:00 CEST.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
