The final race of the 2023 FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe season saw the No. 54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R prevail in a triple battle with a well timed strategy when it mattered the most, and the remaining champions of the season were crowned in Spanish soil.
The No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari kept the top position at the start and boxed the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche, which allowed the No. 63 Emil Frey Lamborghini to go to second. The bunch of cars trying to settle in the highest position possible gave a certain cushion for the No. 71, with Alessandro Pier Guidi safe from Jack Aitken’s threat. The first hour saw a status quo at the top, with the surprise being the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren on the top-5 despite being a Silver Cup entry, with basically no one of the class around.
More and more cars were approaching the McLaren, and with the class lead more than secure, the No. 159 offered little resistance to the Pro Cup contenders. Further ahead the No. 63 looked quite in a stationary second position to defend from the No. 54, but from the halfway point, both cars fancied a battle for the lead as they were clearly faster than the No. 71, with only traffic slowing them down. Relief to Alessio Rovera came when Albert Costa and Alessio Picariello decided to bang doors behind the traffic, but that was momentary, because once the No. 54 went for the final pit stop, Costa quickly overtook Rovera to offer the No. 63 in the most favorable position possible.
The No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren still had the Silver Cup lead in the final hour, but the No. 30 WRT Audi was posing as a close threat to their class win, while the No. 83 Iron Dames Ferrari was doing again an exemplar race to the Gold Cup lead, only for a problem to appear with 40 minutes to go, handing the class lead to the No. 911 Herbeth Porsche.
Having to deal with the backmarkers before the final pit window had consequences for the No. 71 and the No. 63, with both slowed down and being sent to the back of the No. 54. While the Pro Cup stood where it was at the start of the final hour, the drop of the No. 159 had more serious consequences as the Silver Cup lead was lost to the No. 30, and in the Gold Cup, drama fell over the battered No. 911, as further contact sent it to a spin, leaving the No. 57 Winward Mercedes in the class lead, only for Arjun Maini to bring the No. 5 HRT Mercedes to the top with less than 10 minutes to go.
Despite a late charge from Antonio Fuoco, it wasn’t enough of a gain to beat the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche, with Matteo Cairoli just cruising to the line. The No. 30 WRT Audi had a comfortable final hour to get the Silver Cup win while the No. 5 HRT Mercedes was spun by the No. 57 Winward Mercedes with a corner to go to win the Gold Cup, which was more than a reason for the on track class winner to be penalized, handing the triumph to the No. 112 JP Motorsport McLaren.
GTWC Europe - Barcelona race results
To Akkodis ASP, only conquering the Endurance Cup was left as they already had the overall GTWC Europe title, and Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello duly delivered for them and for the team. Inception Racing did a double too in the Gold Cup while WRT celebrated a final double in the Silver Cup, while AF Corse the Pro-Am Cup title for drivers and SPS Automotive was the class’ teams champion.
Akkodis ASP and WRT also repeated doubles in the overall championship, in the Pro Cup and Silver Cup, respectively, while Garage 59’s Miguel Ramos was the Pro-Am Cup champion while AF Corse was the best Pro-Am Cup team.
The action restarts on 23 April 2023 at Monza with the return of the traditional Endurance Cup opener.
PHOTO: SRO/Jules Benichou
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