UPDATE: The #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG was later disqualified from third, after it was revealed six weeks later that a post-race inspection had showed that its wheel bearing was not in compliance, before later being reinstated under appeal.
Team WRT’s Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts have completed a sweep of this weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup round at Misano, with victory in this afternoon’s Race 2 aboard their #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
Van der Linde, after qualifying second, stalked the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMR GT3 EVO of Jules Gounon throughout the opening stint, after an attempt to take the lead around the outside on the opening lap failed to pay off.
A blistering pit stop from Team WRT, 3.1 seconds faster than that of the 2 Seas Motorsport-run #3 Mercedes-AMG, meant Weerts emerged from the pits ahead of Gounon’s co-driver Daniel Juncadella, with a strong out lap then growing the lead margin further.
Juncadella began chipping away at Weerts’ advantage through the second half of the race, but to no avail, with Weerts holding on to win by 2.977 seconds.
It’s a record 20th Sprint Cup victory for Weerts, moving him clear of long-time co-driver Dries Vanthoor as the sole record holder, whilst the #32 BMW has become the first car to sweep a Sprint Cup weekend since Zandvoort 2023.
Team WRT has extended its incredible Misano record to 15 wins in the last 19 races at the Italian venue, with the double-victory also moving the defending champions back into the drivers’ championship lead.
“The team did an amazing job to jump the Mercedes-AMG, which was also very strong,” Weerts said. “We knew the Mercedes-AMG was also really strong, and it was important to score good points for the championship, which we did.”
van der Linde added: “Motorsport is a team effort. When we can’t overtake on-track necessarily, we know we’ve got a team in the pits that can do that for us, as they’ve done so often for us in the past. Last year, that was the key to our championship, and they’ve done it again.”
The #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel and Lucas Auer finished third, after Auer passed the #46 Team WRT BMW of Valentino Rossi on the penultimate lap of the race.
The #46 BMW ran third for the majority of the 60-minute contest, after Max Hesse passed the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo of Kobe Pauwels on the opening lap, but the fan-favourite entry couldn’t match the pace of the leading pair, bringing Rossi’s three-year run of winning at Misano to an end.
Pauwels was unable to capitalise on his strong qualifying performance, after a brake problem struck for the Belgian inside the opening 10 minutes, forcing him to slow from fourth position and bring the car into the pits to retire.
Fifth went to the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Ben Green and Thierry Vermeulen, ahead of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari and #59 Garage 59 McLaren GT3 Evo, which salvaged a points finish after starting from 18th on the grid.
Gold Cup honours, in eighth overall, went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Alex Aka and Dylan Pereira, which took the lead when Aka passed the pole-sitting #111 CSA Racing McLaren of Simon Gachet on the second lap of the race, and held on to secure a double-victory at the Italian round.
The #58 Garage 59 McLaren finished second in Gold, and ninth overall, with the #31 Team WRT BMW completing the overall top 10 ahead of the #555 CSA Racing McLaren that rounded out the Gold Cup podium.
The #31 BMW ran as high as fifth early on, but fell back following a 10-second penalty after Jordan Pepper was judged to have forced Green off early on.
The #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller ceded the drivers’ championship lead after a difficult race for the 24 Hours of Spa winners. After qualifying 13th, Buus was starting to work his way up through the field when he made contact with the #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Patric Niederhauser at Turn 2.
Buus was given a drive-through for the incident, which limited the German squad to a 21st-place finish, whilst after falling to the rear of the field the #96 Lamborghini fought back to finish 27th.
The #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari was a retirement, after Matteo Cairoli stopped on-track shortly after the pit stop window closing whilst running in 10th overall. A brief Full Course Yellow, the only one of the race, was required whilst the car was moved to a safe position.
Leaving Misano, van der Linde/Weerts now lead the drivers’ championship by 14 points over Engel/Auer, with Buus/Feller a further two points behind in third.
The #6 GetSpeed Team BartoneBros Mercedes-AMG of Aurelien Panis and Anthony Bartone won the Silver Cup, in 13th overall, after leading the class throughout.
“This is what you dream of!” Bartone declared. “I did the fun part, driving around, but owe everything to our team, and of course my teammate, who did the hard part today.”
The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin finished second, with the #30 Team WRT BMW continuing its 100% podium finish record in third despite picking up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.
The #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren was running second in Silver inside the final 10 minutes, until contact between Guilherme Oliveira and the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi of Christopher Haase, for which Haase was penalised, dropped the McLaren to 10th in class.
The #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi did not compete today, following its involvement in yesterday’s opening lap accident.
And Bronze Cup victory went to the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dinest, 11 seconds ahead of the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche.
The #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG finished third, after Kiern Jewiss triumphed in a late battle with the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Dennis Marschall, which ended up fifth.
The Bronze Cup was disrupted by several incidents in the opening stint, which eliminated multiple of yesterday’s contenders from contention.
Pole-sitter Charles Dawson picked up a drive-through penalty for the #222 Mercedes-AMG, after making contact with the #52 AF Corse Ferrari early on, whilst Darren Leung’s #991 Paradine Competition BMW also received a drive-through for the Briton’s role in an incident which tipped the #74 Ferrari into a spin. The #93 Porsche, meanwhile, lost ground after being forced off-track by the #21 Aston Martin.
The 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season continues at Magny-Cours, France from 31st July to 2nd August.
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
