Race 1
Mauro Calamia and Roberto Pampanini combined to score their first-ever Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli victory in a wet opening race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Team MZR did enough to mathematically seal the Pro-Am title.
The #67 DINAMIC Motorsport Maserati mastered a treacherous 50-minute contest at the Spanish track, rising from 10th on the grid to claim the spoils. They beat fellow Pro-Am runner Jörg Viebahn and his rookie NM Racing team-mate Andy Cantu in a thrilling scrap for the win, while Martin Koch and Reinhard Kofler put the class crown beyond doubt with a seventh-place finish.
The fight for the Am Drivers’ titles – and both Teams’ championships – will be decided in tomorrow’s final race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as Jean-Luc Beaubelique and pole-sitter Gilles Vannelet collected their class win ahead of Alexandre Leroy (#24 TFT Racing Maserati).
Calamia and Pampini reign supreme in Barcelona opener
A strong start on a wet circuit allowed Vannelet to snatch the lead into Turn 1, but the Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG soon came under fire from Dominik Olbert in the #90 Razoon – more than racing KTM. A move around the outside of the #87 car put Olbert out front by the end of the opening tour, only for technical gremlins to strike one lap later.
After a blistering start from sixth to second, the Pro-Am NM Racing Mercedes-AMG of Viebhan was perfectly placed to take full advantage, while the #89 RTR Projects KTM of Lennart Marioneck also dispatched Vannelet for second.
A three-way battle ensued, with the trio trading places right up until the mandatory pit stops, Vannelet taking Viebahn for the lead just as the window opened. The Akkodis ASP crew’s efforts to negate the success seconds carried over from the previous event at Monza didn’t quite pay off and Cantu – in for Viebhan – returned the #888 to the top of the order ahead of Matej Homola (#89 KTM) and Philippe Prette (#2 LP Racing Maserati).
After a brief safety car interruption required to recover the stationery #61 Mercedes-AMG, Calamia was the man on the move on the drying track. Rocketing the DINAMIC Motorsport Maserati from fourth to claim first with 10 minutes remaining, Calamia’s charge sealed a maiden Pro-Am win with Pampanini in just their second event since joining the series.
NM Racing’s Cantu and Viebhan secured their best result of the year, while Homola and Marioneck completed the Pro-Am podium for RTR Projects. LP Racing’s Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini (#1 Maserati) climbed from sixth to finish fourth in class ahead of the sister #88 Audi driven by Alfio Andrea Spina and Gianluca Giorgi.
It meant that sixth place was enough for the #812 Team MZR crew of Koch and Kofler to provisionally clinch the Pro-Am crown, capping an impressive campaign that has so far yielded five victories and a further five podiums.
Sealing the Am class victory helped strengthen Beaubelique and Vannelet’s position at the top of their points table, the Mercedes-AMG duo finishing sixth overall. Leroy secured second in class, but this was not enough to keep the Belgian in title contention for Sunday’s final race.
The third Am crew home was the sister #53 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG of Pascal Gibon and Christophe Bourret. Despite a pair of time penalties dropping Prette to fourth in class, the LP Racing charge still has an outside shot at the Am title, lying 23 points adrift of Vannelet and Beaubelique.
Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen finished eighth overall in the #80 Razoon – more than racing KTM, followed by Leroy and the #81 Bosi Race Tech Mercedes-AMG of Wim de Pundert and Bernd Schneider.
The Am Drivers’ crown and both Teams’ titles will be decided in the final Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli race of the season, which gets underway at 10:25 on Sunday morning. Watch it unfold live via the series website and GT World YouTube channel.
Race 2
Andy Cantu and Jorg Viebahn brought the curtain down on the 2024 Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli campaign with Pro-Am victory in today’s concluding race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Philippe Prette clinched the Am class title in dramatic fashion after his rivals retired with damage sustained in an opening-lap incident.
The #888 NM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT2 was pushed hard for the win by a charging Lennart Marioneck (#89 RTR Projects KTM GT2) but ultimately held firm to earn a maiden Pro-Am triumph. The foundations were laid by a phenomenal launch from Cantu. Starting fourth, the American dived to the outside and put two wheels on the grass while keeping the throttle planted. Remarkably, he had done enough to be ahead of the pack before the Turn 1 braking zone.
While the #888 Mercedes-AMG pulled clear, there was major drama in the Am class. Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Gilles Vannelet (#87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG) entered the season-ending race with a 23-point advantage in the Drivers’ standings, meaning a classified finish would see them crowned champions.
This plan was derailed when #87 Mercedes-AMG snapped loose in Turn 2 and made contact with the sister #53 Mercedes-AMG. The latter was sent into the barriers, while Beaubelique was forced to limp back to the pits with damage to the front-right of his car. The Akkodis ASP crew quickly went to work, but it was to no avail.
This meant that Philippe Prette could snatch an unlikely title triumph, though the #2 LP Racing Maserati GT2 driver would need to win his class. During the opening phase of the race he was in position to do exactly that, running at the head of the Am field with a comfortable advantage. There was an added complication, however, as the Italian was handed a five-second time penalty for failing to respect Race Direction’s instructions at the start.
When he exited the pits following his mandatory stop, Prette had fallen behind Dominik Olbert, who had taken the controls of the #90 Razoon – more than racing KTM from Arthur Chwist. The gap was close to eight seconds, a significant amount of time to make up in less than half an hour. In the event, Olbert was able to pull even further clear, climbing up the overall order while bolstering his Am class advantage.
Meanwhile, the #888 Mercedes-AMG had maintained its Pro-Am lead through the pit stop phase, with Viebahn taking over from Cantu. But this would not be an easy win, as the #89 RTR Projects KTM had rapidly closed on to the rear of the NM Racing machine, while late traffic cost Viebahn further time. With the final lap fast approaching, Marioneck was all over the Mercedes-AMG.
The KTM driver was able to draw alongside his rival at Turn 3 on the closing lap, but Viebahn held firm. In a dramatic finish, the German driver took the chequered flag just 0.351s ahead of Marioneck. This gave the NM Racing squad a maiden Fanatec GT2 Europe win. The Pro-Am podium was completed by the title-winning duo of Martin Koch and Reinhard Kofler (#812 KTM), who also wrapped up the Pro-Am Teams’ title for MZR.
This just left the Am class to be decided. Despite his best efforts, Prette could do nothing about the impressive Olbert, who climbed all the way to fourth overall and took the chequered flag. This appeared to have saved the day for Akkodis ASP, but in yet another twist the #90 KTM was subsequently disqualified for not complying with the post-race scrutineering process.
As such, Prette was promoted to Am class victory, giving him the 25 points needed to overhaul Beaubelique and Vannelet and be crowned class champion, while LP Racing took the Teams’ title by a single point over Akkodis ASP. The Am class podium was rounded out by Alexandre Leroy (#24 TFT Racing Maserati) and True Racing’s Klaus Angerhofer and Sehdi Sarmini (#16 KTM).
Today’s race marked the conclusion of the 2024 season, which brought the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli to new venues, produced record grids, and ended with a fresh set of champions. The 2025 campaign will launch at Circuit Paul Ricard on 11–13 April, kicking off another six-round series that includes a return to the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa support line-up.
