UPDATE: The #33 Verstappen.Com Racing Aston Martin has received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with the #59 McLaren during the second hour. This has demoted them to third in the Gold Cup, meaning they have no longer secured the drivers’ and teams’ Gold Endurance titles.
The #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW has inherited the Gold Cup victory.
The #63 Lamborghini has had its 10-second time penalty rescinded, promoting it back up to fifth place.
Original Story
Rowe Racing’s #98 BMW M4 GT3 Evo claimed victory in this afternoon’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring.
Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello were never outside of the top two during the three-hour affair, as they became the first trio since 2023 to win an Endurance Cup round from pole position.
Farfus controlled the opening stint, only for Krohn to lose the lead on his out lap to the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Mattia Drudi. Drudi’s co-driver Nicki Thiim pitted five laps before Farfus, with Drudi taking advantage of his fresh rubber to close down a six-second gap and pass Krohn into Turn 3.
Drudi held off the BMW during the middle stint, with the gap oscillating between half a second and three seconds, only for a Full Course Yellow to be deployed during the final pit stop cycle to cost the Belgian squad dearly.
Whilst the #007 Aston Martin pitted under green flag conditions, the #98 BMW was amongst those able to complete its service one lap later, whilst the rest of the field was limited to 80km/h. This comfortably gave Raffaele Marciello the race lead, with Drudi’s co-driver Marco Sørensen falling to sixth.
Marciello had multiple lapped cars between himself and the second-placed #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer on the restart, and quickly established a three-second margin that he would grow to 4.468 seconds by the chequered flag.
It is BMW’s first-ever victory in Germany in GT World Challenge competition, and Rowe’s first win since Paul Ricard last season. Today’s triumph completes a successful summer at the ‘Ring for Rowe, Marciello, Farfus and Krohn, who also won the 24H Nürburgring in June.
“We know Nürburgring, when you are in front, it’s difficult to overtake,” Marciello acknowledged. “At the restart, I had behind 2/3 lapped cars, so I knew then I was able to make a gap there. When you are in front, then you can manage the pace. Behind, they were not catching so I tried to keep my tyres alive and bring the car home.”
“I knew the start would be crucial here,” Farfus added. “It was difficult due to the cold temperatures to get the tyres to work. It was all about the first three corners to keep the track position, and then it was about managing the pace.”
Auer, Maro Engel and Matteo Cairoli finished second to extend their lead in the drivers’ championship, with the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Alessio Picariello, Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser completing the podium.
Third on the road was the #64 HRT Ford Performance Mustang GT3, which charged through the field from 17th on the grid. Arjun Maini and then Jann Mardenborough brought the Mustang into the top six before pitting on the right side of the FCY, promoting Thomas Drouet up to third. A 10-second penalty for an FCY infringement dropped the Ford to fifth post-race, which is still comfortably the Mustang’s best GT World Challenge Europe finish to date.
The #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche was promoted to fourth, with the #007 Aston Martin finishing sixth after Sørensen fell back late on. The #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo finished seventh.
The defending winner here, the #63 GRT – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, was sixth on the road, but was relegated to 10th after Jordan Pepper received a 10-second time penalty post-race for causing a collision with the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG of Cesar Gazeau.
It was a disappointing race for the #32 Team WRT BMW, which slipped back from fifth in the opening stint to an eventual 11th. It’s a costly blow for the title aspirations of Charles Weerts, Ugo de Wilde and Kelvin van der Linde, with them now 18 points behind Auer/Cairoli/Engel. The #96 Porsche trio, who sit just five points behind the Mercedes-AMG squad, are the only other effort still in contention for the drivers’ championship.
This means that Alessandro Pier Guidi and Alessio Rovera can no longer defend their drivers’ crowns. Their #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 was running fourth late on, the best of those to make its final pit stop under green flag conditions, when Pier Guidi suddenly slowed and pitted to retire with only two minutes to go.
Thierry Vermeulen, Chris Lulham and Harry King won the Gold Cup aboard the #33 Verstappen.Com Racing Aston Martin, finishing eighth overall. The race win provisionally makes them the first champions of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season, as they have sealed the Gold Endurance drivers’ and teams’ titles.
“It was a very fun race,” Vermeulen said. “My poor qualifying didn’t make it easy for us, but luckily, we made up a lot of positions even at the start. It’s a bit of a shame we missed out with that Full Course Yellow, but that’s part of the game and the team has done a top job on the car.”
The #777 AlManar Racing by WRT BMW finished second in the Gold Cup, with the #111 CSA Racing McLaren in third. The #58 Garage 59 McLaren led the class during the opening hour, but electrical issues forced the British squad to retire around the halfway mark.
Silver Cup honours, in ninth overall, went to the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG of Loris Cabirou, Aurelien Panis and Gazeau. The #10 Mercedes-AMG and pole-sitting #188 Garage 59 McLaren traded the class lead throughout the race, with the McLaren eventually finishing ahead on the road, but dropping to second post-race due to being another entry to pick up a 10-second penalty for an FCY infringement.
Gazeau survived an eventful final stint, which involved incidents with both the #63 Lamborghini and #52 Ferrari, for the victory, whilst the #42 Century Motorsport BMW increased its championship lead in third.
Bronze Cup victory went to the #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Charles Dawson, Tom Lebbon and Ben Barnicoat, with the Bahraini squad, which operates the Verstappen.Com Racing-machine, picking up a notable double win with two different cars.
The Bronze Cup battle was heavily disrupted by the caution period at the end of the second hour, with only three cars left on the overall lead lap. Barnicoat, in third, quickly disposed of Mathieu Detry’s #888 UNX Racing Porsche and then hunted down the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Patrick Kolb to take the lead and eventual win with just under half an hour to go.
Kolb brought the #80 Porsche home in second, with UNX Racing finishing third on its Endurance Cup debut.
Both of the race’s FCY periods were caused by incidents involving the Bronze Cup leader. First, Paradine Competition’s #991 BMW was forced to retire inside the opening 10 minutes after Darren Leung took a hit to the rear at Turn 3.
Then, Kessel Racing’s #74 Ferrari was caught up in a four-car incident at the Schumacher S. Kessel’s Conrad Laursen, in the wrong place at the wrong time, was collected by the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and ended up stranded in the gravel and forced into retirement.
The silver lining for Laursen, Dennis Marschall and Dustin Blattner is that their closest title rivals, the #81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, finished down in 10th, and as such, the #74 Ferrari retains a 21-point championship lead.
The 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup concludes at Barcelona on 10-12 October. Before then, the Sprint Cup finale takes place at Valencia on 19-21 September.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
