In a field as diverse as that of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, where 10 different manufacturers have done battle across each of the past two seasons, it is incredibly rare that one manufacturer steals all of the headlines at any given race weekend.
And reflecting back on the 2026 season finale, the term ‘all’ would do a disservice to the role Porsche, which scored pole position and placed two cars on the podium, played in proceedings, disregarding a breakout performance from Garage 59’s Joseph Loake, and gloss over the members of the entertaining Gold and Bronze Cup battles.
But at the Autódromo International do Algarve, the three major stories undisputedly belonged to Mercedes-AMG, evenly split across its trio of factory-supported Pro class entries.
First came the 2 Seas Motorsport-run #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing AMG GT3 EVO, which no matter how the decider went, was guaranteed to be the number one headline as soon as team owner Max Verstappen announced that he himself would be behind the wheel.
An attendance which was tracking to be disappointing by series organisers SRO’s current lofty standard ended up totalling 28,000, with a quick scan of the grandstands confirming that many of them were here at least in part to witness the four-time Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion at work.
The truly staggering number, however, came through the viewership of the three-hour race, which attracted a series-record 9.7 million live views, and proved beyond doubt the impact that having Verstappen in the field – a factor that SRO founder Stéphane Ratel had previously acknowledged even before experiencing it in his own series – can have.
On-track, it was a difficult weekend for the #3 Mercedes-AMG, which struggled to find a setup on Friday and took a wrong turn ahead of Qualifying. A podium finish looked possible after a strong opening half of the race, before a Drive-Through penalty dropped the car out of the top 20 and forced Verstappen to work his way back up the field to a ninth-place finish instead of engaging in a battle for victory.
“Overall, we have had a decent weekend,” Verstappen reflected.
“Unfortunately, we made a mistake with the setup of the car in qualifying, which meant that the car was sparking a little bit too much for performance. So, we didn’t qualify where we should have qualified. We adjusted the setup for the race, and we were a lot more competitive.”
“Ben [Barnicoat] had a really great first stint staying out of the carnage at the start and driving us to the front. Chris [Lulham] also started his stint really strong, putting himself in a good position. But then, unfortunately, a little bit of an opportunistic move on the other car ahead meant that, of course, we received a deserved drive-through penalty.”
“That meant I had to go from P24 in my stint. But I had fun, and the pace of our car was really good. It was very hectic with a lot of chaos around me to get to the front. But in the end, to finish ninth, recovering from that drive-through, I think was really strong. So overall, although it was not the result that we wanted, a lot has been learned, and it was a positive weekend.”
The second Mercedes-AMG to make the headlines was the Winward Racing-run #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Filter effort, with the verdict of its appeal hearing against a disqualification from Race 2 at July’s Sprint Cup round at Misano, which had left an asterisk looming over the championship battles ever since it was first announced at the end of August, filtering through ahead of Qualifying on Friday.
Opinions in the paddock over whether the #48 Mercedes-AMG would be reinstated had been mixed, but in the end the RACB National Court of Appeal ruled in the Texan squad’s favour, in doing so confirming Lucas Auer and Maro Engel as the 2026 full-season Drivers’ champions.
This added to the Endurance Cup Drivers’ title that Auer, Engel and Luca Stolz had already sealed, with the Endurance Cup Teams’ crown following as soon as the point for pole position was taken off the table.
The #48 Mercedes-AMG found its success off the back of unrivalled consistency in 2026. For the first time in Winward Racing’s spell as a regular Pro class competitor, the team went winless, but instead banked strong results including three consecutive Endurance Cup podiums at Circuit Paul Ricard, Monza and the 24 Hours of Spa.
In fact, until contact between Stolz and Lulham unravelled the ‘Mamba’-liveried #48 AMG’s race in Portimão, the car was on-track for the worst finish in Endurance Cup history.
“The finale was a brutal race,” Auer said.
“I had a lot of battles during my stint, and I’m glad I was able to bring the car home. Our season was incredibly consistent. Maro and I have now won the overall GT World Challenge Europe title together for the second time, following 2024.
“We work together perfectly. I would also like to pay tribute to my Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter. Even in challenging races, we always got the maximum out of the situation. A big thank you to the entire team for that.”
Come the chequered flag, the headline baton was then handed over to the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed entry of Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller, which claimed a long-overdue race victory.
For the past few seasons, GetSpeed’s Pro class effort has tended to follow a similar script. Appear competitive, and at times even the class of the field, at the start of a race weekend, before misfortune strikes in the race and the Adam Osieka-led organisation once again heads home empty-handed.
In the 14 Endurance Cup races before last weekend, the car had only scored five top-10 finishes, and a single podium at the 2024 season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard.
In Portugal, however, the now almost-expected strike of bad luck never came. Schiller was fastest in both the pre-event Paid Test and Free Practice 2 before the car qualified second on the grid, and the #17 Mercedes-AMG moved into a lead it never relinquished via a successful overcut at the opening round of pit stops.
GetSpeed, Aron and Schiller all earned their first GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup wins, with AMG veteran Götz triumphant for the first time since the 2013 Nürburgring 1000KM.
“I first raced for GetSpeed in 2017, and we have been competing together in the GT World Challenge for the past four years,” Schiller commented.
“The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has been fast at every circuit over the last two years. We kept asking ourselves when that first win would finally come. Now it’s finally here. It’s something truly special to have achieved this success together with GetSpeed and Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.”
Images courtesy of SRO/JEP
