WINWARD Racing wins its appeal and is crowned overall champion

WINWARD Racing has won its appeal against its disqualification from the second race of this year’s Sprint Cup round at Misano, in which the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished third overall.

The Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) ruled that the appeal was “admissible and well-founded” and confirmed that the original decision must be “set aside and revoked”. Consequently, the third-place finish for Maro Engel and Lucas Auer stands. The Sprint Cup standings remain unaffected by this.

This means that Engel and Auer are confirmed as the overall winners of the GT World Challenge powered by AWS drivers’ championship for 2026, as they hold an unassailable points lead ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Portimão. The team title has not yet been decided.

You can find out more about the original disqualification here – the team has lodged an appeal against it.

The 2026 GT World Challenge season concludes on Saturday evening with a three-hour race in Portugal. The race gets underway at 17:00 local time.

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