Lionspeed GP claimed its maiden outright GT World Challenge Europe victory at Brands Hatch this afternoon, as its #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) dominated Race 2 at the Sprint Cup opener.
After consecutive power steering-related retirements to start the GT World Challenge Europe season, fortunes finally changed for the German outfit, with Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller never truly threatened as they cruised to victory.
Buus, starting from pole position, held onto the lead into Turn 1, and pulled out a three-second margin over the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 Evo of Chris Lulham behind the pit stop window opened at the halfway point.
Lionspeed GP added two more seconds to its advantage during the pit stop cycle, which meant that, despite setting the fastest lap as he attempted to close in, Lulham’s co-driver Daniel Juncadella was unable to challenge Feller.
The Porsche contracted driver brought the #80 911 GT3 R (992.2) home 3.073 seconds ahead of Juncadella, as the frontrunners worked their way through back markers in the closing laps.
“I’m very happy, especially after today’s Race 1,” Feller said. “Bastian did a great start, keeping the car in P1. Luckily we had a good gap after the pit stop, because at one point the Merc was catching quite a bit.”
“It’s important for the team to get this,” Buus added. “We were running good in Paul Ricard, we started off strong here and unfortunately didn’t get it together in the first race, but now we’re here and hopefully we continue this streak.”
Behind, the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel and Lucas Auer finished third, holding onto a podium finish despite picking up a five-second time penalty for a pit stop infringement. The German outfit, which has won this race the past two years, fell foul of the same rule as Verstappen Racing did in Race 1, with Auer exiting his pit box before the final crew member had gotten back across the white line.
Fourth went to the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, ahead of the #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo and #32 Team WRT BMW in which Kelvin van der Linde was the main winner of the opening lap, gaining four places from 10th on the grid.
The #31 WRT BMW was seventh, ahead of the Belgian squad’s Silver Cup-winning #30 BMW of Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont, which successfully made up for losing Race 1 victory due to a 30-second post-race penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
The #30 BMW led the Silver Cup throughout, finishing 11 seconds ahead of the #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, with the #52 AF Corse third.
Gold Cup victory, in 10th overall, went to the #555 CSA Racing McLaren of Simon Gachet and Romain Andriolo, which finished a comfortable 23 seconds ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #111 CSA Racing McLaren.
The Gold Cup was led early on by the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Alex Aka. The German, however, made contact with Boutsen VDS’ Dorian Boccolacci on the exit of Paddock Hill Bend, which caused the Audi to slow half a lap later and be forced into retirement.
Boccolacci was given a 15-second time penalty for the incident, with his #2 Porsche recovering to finish 10th on the road, behind the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, before a further five-second penalty for forcing the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari off track dropped it to 12th.
The #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer, which won Race 1, finished an anonymous 15th, whilst the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 fared better than this morning, with the #96 Rutronik Racing example coming home 18th.
The #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche, which had qualified on Gold Cup pole position, failed to start following its accident in Race 1 this morning.
With no one putting together two strong finishes today, the #80 Porsche pairing now leads the Sprint Cup drivers’ championship despite their Race 1 retirement. Buus/Feller are two points ahead of Leclerc/Neubauer, with Auer/Engel and van der Linde/Charles Weerts both a further three points behind.
The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season continues at Misano, Italy on 17th and 19th July 2026. Before then, the majority of competitors will be present at the 24 Hours of Spa Prologue on 19th and 20th May, the Endurance Cup round at Monza, and the 24 Hours of Spa itself.
Image courtesy of SRO/JEP
