Mercedes-AMG trio clinch early title in GT World Challenge Endurance

WINWARD Racing makes history in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz and Maro Engel finished the race at the Nürburgring in fourth place, thereby securing the Endurance Cup title ahead of schedule. This makes the trio the first driver line-up to clinch the title early in the fiercely contested Endurance Cup.

The race in the Eifel was won by Mattia Drudi, Marco Sörensen and Nicki Thiim in the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin. It is the Aston Martin trio’s second victory of the season in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Second place went to the WRT BMW M4 GT3 driven by Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper and Charles Weerts. They finished 5.751 seconds behind the winning Aston Martin.

Dani Juncadella, Chris Lulham and Jules Gounon rounded off the top three.

In the first corner, Markus Winkelhock in the Eastalent Racing Audi and Constantin Dressler in the Kessel Racing Ferrari collided. Whilst Dressler was able to continue, former Audi works driver Winkelhock retired from the race. Nicklas Nieseln in the AF Corse Ferrari and James Kell in the CSA Racing McLaren also collided, but both were able to continue the race. Kell and Dressler received drive-through penalties for causing the incidents.

After 55 minutes, Gabriel Rindone in the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 spun Tommy Pintos’ Greystone McLaren, which spun into the kerb. The race was neutralised to recover the car. This was a massive stroke of bad luck for the Lionspeed Porsche, which had completed its pit stop before the neutralisation and consequently lost a great deal of time. The car dropped from third place to 22nd.

Shortly after the restart, Jayden Ojeda in the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 spun Riccardo Pera’s Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Pera then crashed heavily into David Perel’s Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. The race was neutralised once again.

Shortly after the halfway point of the race, Guilherme de Oliveira, driving his Optimum Motorsport McLaren, rolled to a halt with a puncture just before the Veedol chicane. Jayden Kelly, in the Greystone GT McLaren, then collided heavily with him. The race was neutralised once more.

With around 50 minutes remaining, Romain Andriolo spun off at Turn 12, triggering a short full-course yellow.

Joseph Loake, Dean MacDonald and Marvin Kirchhöfer originally finished the race in second place in the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, but received a penalty for a Full Course Yellow (FCY) infringement and were consequently classified in tenth place. The Boutsen VDS Porsche driven by Dorian Boccolacci took the chequered flag in third place, but was reclassified to twelfth after exceeding the maximum race time.

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Nürburgring Race Results (Top 10):

1. Mattia Drudi/Marco Sörensen/Nicki Thiim – Comtoyou Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT3

2. Kelvin van der Linde/Jordan Pepper/Charles Weerts – WRT – BMW M4 GT3

3. Dani Juncadella/Chris Lulham/Jules Gounon – Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

4. Lucas Auer/Luca Stolz/Maro Engel – WINWARD Racing – Mercedes-AMG GT3

5. Maxime Martin/Maximilian Götz/Fabian Schiller – GetSpeed – Mercedes-AMG GT3

6. Arjun Maini/Fabio Scherer/Thomas Drouet – Haupt Racing Team – Ford Mustang GT3

7. Dylan Pereira/Andrea Frassineti/Alex Aka – Tresor Attempto Racing – Audi R8 LMS GT3

8. Nico Menzel/Robin Knutsson/Gilles Magnus – Boutsen VDS – Porsche 911 GT3 R

9. Daniel Harper/Max Hesse/Valentino Rossi – WRT – BMW M4 GT3

10. Dylan Pereira/Andrea Frassineti/Alex Aka – Tresor Attempto Racing – Audi R8 LMS GT3