Held at a scorching Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli produced two thrilling races at the annual SRO Speedweek that featured drama aplenty and two breakthrough winners.
CMR’s Ethan Gialdini and Mikkel Njor took glory for Ginetta in the opener before Razoon – more than racing took advantage of troubles for the British cars in the second race, with Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen scoring big for KTM.
This means that from the four GT2 Europe races so far in 2026, four different brands have come out on top, as Ginetta and KTM join Monza winners Maserati and Mercedes-AMG with victories.
Ginetta was a force all weekend, dominating Race 1 with Gialdini and Njor controlling the race from pole in their #3 G56 GT2 to secure their first overall victory, and the first outright win in GT2 Europe for the Yorkshire-based marque.
The odds looked stacked in the favour of Gialdini as the #3 Ginetta lined up on pole after the Frenchman’s dominant qualifying performance, but he needed more than a little luck to go his way with the car carrying an additional 10 seconds of compensation time on its stop.
He got it almost immediately, as the pack behind was scattered into La Source following contact that involved Ondrej Rokos’ fast-starting #294 RTR Mercedes-AMG, Antoine Potty’s #6 i4Race Maserati, Adrian Ferrer’s #116 NM Racing Team AMG and Philippe Prette’s #1 LP Racing Maserati, which was shuffled wide and through the gravel.
The hit on Potty prevented him from getting the power down out of the corner, allowing Gialdini immediate breathing space. Within a handful of laps, the Ginetta enjoyed a comfortable advantage. The team’s decision to run Gialdini until the very final moments of the pit window proved the right one, allowing the leader to pump in flying laps in clean air before pitting to hand over to Njor, with the car rejoining with a three-second gap over Potty. From there it was job done as Njor extended the gap to secure the win over the rival Maserati.
The contact at the start also shuffled the fight for third, opening the door for the #112 ART-Line Lamborghini of Shota Abkhazava to sneak through early. Once ahead, the Kazakh driver resisted heavy pressure from the recovering Ferrer, only losing the place briefly right before the pit window. However, with no compensation time to serve against the seven seconds for the #116 Mercedes-AMG, Abkhazava was able to complete his stop and rejoin ahead of Ferrer’s team-mate Branden Oxley. From there, Abkhazava was untouchable, running to a superb overall podium place, as well as scoring the Masters class victory, ending Prette’s 10-race class win streak.
Oxley’s hopes of attacking were ruined by a scary spin on the exit of Blanchimont, which allowed the Pro-Am leading #62 CMR Ginetta into the top four. Lawrence Tomlinson held the class lead throughout the first half before a clean swap with Mike Simpson set up a double-win for the French squad, with the British driver holding off David Thilenius and Jay-Mo Härtling’s #111 SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG by nine seconds. Oxley recovered to sixth.
After being hit wide at the start, Prette was then caught in a nasty incident with Rokos on the run toward Eau Rouge which turned the RTR Mercedes-AMG into the pitwall. While Rokos limped the car off the track, Prette continued, served his maximum compensation time and then blew past Oliver Freymuth’s #24 AKF Lamborghini to complete a strong recovery to another class podium.
The race also featured a bizarre moment when the #88 LP Racing Audi of Stefan Rosina attempted to pit after launching over a kerb at the final chicane, only for a driveshaft to break on pit entry, stranding Rosina and delaying several cars attempting to pit behind him until the marshals could push the Audi clear.
With a front-row lockout, Ginetta appeared well-placed to be a factor again in Race 2, but CMR’s hopes faded at the exit of Turn 1 after a brush between the sister G56 GT2s, handing the advantage to the #10 Razoon – more than racing KTM of Simon Birch and Thomas Andersen.
Birch took advantage of a messy opening lap to emerge in the race lead, and was the ironically helped by a lengthy safety car period after a big crash for Niccolo Pirri at Raidillon. With the KTM having zero extra time in the pits and many of the cars around him carrying compensation time, the caution period effectively handed Andersen a healthy lead once the stops cycled through, with the Dane able to hold off a charging #6 i4Race Maserati of Antoine Potty to secure the Austrian squad’s maiden GT2 Europe victory.
“Our first overall victory in the GT2 European Series means a great deal to us! Simon laid the foundations for the victory with a brilliant start, which was a spectacular show for all the spectators. But Thomas’s second stint was also a joy to watch, and the fact that he was ultimately able to drive the triumph across the finish line was a wonderful experience for the whole team,” said an overjoyed team owner Dominik Olbert.
Mike Simpson started on pole with Mikkel Njor alongside, but the Dane attempted to run around the outside of Simpson leading to a pinch on corner exit. The slightest brush between the two damaged Simpson’s tyre and delayed Njor, who then had to hold another big moment at Raidillon after a second touch with Birch, who had worked his way up to second before then inheriting the lead once Simpson was forced to pit the #62 Ginetta to replace his Pirelli.
Racing was interrupted soon after when Pirri endured a nasty accident at Raidillon, thankfully emerging unscathed from the #8 LP Racing Maserati, but the cleanup needed several laps behind the safety car.
That actually helped the Razoon crew, with Birch/Andersen not carrying any pit stop compensation time, whereas the cars chasing them – the #111 Mercedes-AMG of Jay-Mo Härtling and David Thilenius plus Potty’s Maserati – would all have longer mandatory stops.
When racing resumed, Birch led from Härtling until the German finally found a way past into Les Combes just before the pit window opened. Härtling was only able to build a gap of a few seconds over Birch, so when the stops cycled through and compensation time was served, Andersen rejoined back in the lead almost six seconds clear of Thilenius.
The second half is where the race really came alive, with a frantic three-car battle between the recovering #3 CMR Ginetta now driven by Ethan Gialdini, Potty and Adrian Ferrer’s #116 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG. The three traded places constantly until Potty worked his way ahead with a brave move through Blanchimont that helped him ahead of both his rivals. Once released, he cleared Thilenius for second and began eating into Andersen’s lead.
What started as an eight-second gap was down to just two by the start of the final lap. Potty pushed as hard as he could but couldn’t quite get the traction out of the final chicane, trailing by just 0.3s at the flag, but the Belgian did at least secure his second class victory of the season on home turf with Silver honours.
Thilenius and Härtling took third ahead of Ferrer and Branden Oxley, with the sister #115 NM AMG of Alberto de Martin and Nil Montserrat fifth. Marius Aigner and Reinhard Kofler completed the top six in their #119 MZR KTM. Gialdini lost his chance when the #3 Ginetta dramatically slowed with a technical issue after a kerb strike at the chicane and was forced to pit.
After his star drive in Race 1, Shota Abkhazava was again on course for the Masters win after he defied the maximum pit stop compensation time to emerge ahead of a tight three-car battle with Philippe Prette’s #1 LP Racing Maserati and Viktor Mraz’s #89 RTR Projects KTM across the late stages.
However, a tangle with the #85 Iron Dames by SP Racing Maserati, Laura van der Hengel and Sarah Bovy having switched chassis for this round with their regular Porsche in action elsewhere, at the chicane earned Abkhazava a penalty that dropped the #12 ART-Line Lamborghini to fifth in the final result, allowing Mraz to lead Prette, with the #27 CMR Huracán shared by Rodrigue Gillion and Alexis Berthet completing the podium.
The GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli is next in action at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Italy over the weekend of 18th to 19th July 2026.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
