WRT secure GTWC Europe Sprint Cup title at Valencia

WRT did the lesson during the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season at Valencia, overcoming a disastrous first race with a Race 2 win for the No. 32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo, which was more than enough to secure the title for Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde. This weekend also marked the first overall win of a Gold Cup entry, as Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham conquered what they were pursuing with the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
 

The first race had the unusual scene of a Bronze Cup front row with Kessel Racing and Lionspeed GP, and Dennis Marschall used his experience to close all the routes and keep the overall and Bronzer Cup lead for the No. 74 Ferrari, while a multi-car crashed caused a Safety Car intervention in the first lap. This also included the No. 32 WRT BMW, which had its table lead threatened now that the car was in the garage for extensive repairs.
 
While the No. 74 was somewhat safe, the No. 89 Lionspeed GP Porsche had the whole Gold Cup top 3 on its back wing, and while the Pro Cup field started mixing with the Gold Cup cars, the process was slow, so most of the frontrunners went early to the pit stop, as they would eventually overcome the Bronze Cup entries once the gentleman drivers went in.
 
This post pit window shuffle gave the overall lead to the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari while the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren was leading the chase, with the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini and the No. 48 Winward Mercedes right behind them. Louis Prette wasn’t able to match Chris Lulham’s pace and eventually fell into Jordan Pepper’s striking range, conceding the overall second with 2 minutes to go.
 
With so much time lost behind the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren, the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini had to settle for second place as the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari on overall with 13 seconds ahead and nearly 15 seconds to the Gold Cup second placed car.
 
GTWC Europe - Valencia Race 1 results
 
The No. 21 Comtoyou Aston Martin secured the Silver Cup win while the No. 74 Kessel Ferrari reamined firm on top of the Bronze Cup.
 

For Sunday, the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini was on pole while three of the four overall Sprint Cup contenders were within the top 4, while the No. 48 Winward Mercedes would have to come from sixteenth to fight against the odds, and with the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari stopped and the No. 35 Walkenhorst Aston Martin being spun, the Safety Car was called and it would keep the status quo for a while.
 
Aurelien Panis would have no business meddling with the title contenders, but the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes was keeping the No. 32 WRT BMW at bay while leading the Silver Cup from third overall, although eventually, Kelvin van der Linde made his way past Panis.
 
Van der Linde was improving in pace, and this helped the South African to go past the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren, although Marvin Kirchhöfer backed off in order to let van der Line to chase Jordan Pepper, and the position swap came in the mandatory pit stop, when WRT did the usual and sent Charles Weerts to first place by a tiny margin over Luca Engstler.
 
Despite having Weerts within reach, Engstler was in a stalemate as the gap was always of roughly 2 seconds, and while the gap was cut in half due to traffic, the pace was still similar. This benefited Weerts in the long run, as the No. 32 WRT BMW was unreachable until the finish, with the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini finishing in second by 0.885 seconds.
 
GTWC Europe - Valencia Race 2 results
 
The No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes held onto the Silver Cup top spot and finished fourth overall, while the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari turned things around in the Gold Cup when the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren dropped back in the second stint. The No. 89 Lionspeed GP Porsche kept the strong performance from Saturday and won the Bronze Cup.
 
Weerts and van der Linde (No. 32) ended the season with 88.5 points against the 81.5 from Engstler and Pepper (No. 63), 80 from Goethe and Kirchhöfer (No. 59) and 76.5 from Auer and Engel (No. 48).
 
Lulham and Vermeulen (No. 69) secured the Gold Cup title with 118.5 points over the 106 of Louis Prette (No. 58), while Kobe Pauwels and Jamie Day (No. 21) got the Silver Cup title with 102 points over the 96 of Gazeau and Panis (No. 10). Marschall and Blattner (No. 74) lifted the Bronze Cup title with 92 points while Mardini and Buus (No. 89) came really close with 87.
 
WRT also lifted the Sprint Cup teams title with 104.5 points over the 97 from Garage 59. Emil Frey Racing was the Gold Cup teams champion, while Comtoyou Racing lifted the Silver Cup teams title, with Kessel Racing getting Bronze Cup honors.
 
SRO stays in Spain but this time is to settle the Endurance Cup and the overall GTWC Europe season, with the Barcelona finale set for 12 October.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP