Winward lifts GTWC Europe Sprint Cup title at Barcelona

Once again in the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, WRT arrived in Spain with a shot at the title, this time in BMW machinery, but Winward Racing and their No. 48 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel washed away their hopes to lift the title at Barcelona, despite not winning any of the races at the Circuito de Catalunya-Barcelona, which went to the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Maximilian Götz and Jules Gounon and the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3R of Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser.
 

In the first race, everybody kept peeking at the sky as dark clouds were accumulating above the first and second sectors, so an extra formation laps was kept to assess the conditions in case of any surprises. The race started but quickly went back to neutralisation because the caution in the front of the pack didn’t reflect in the rear, as the No. 57 Winward Mercedes slid and pressed the Attempto Audi, which burst into flames after both cars went to the Turn 1 escape road.
 
Then, the skies dropped everything stored there and the Safety Car stood on track while all teams rushed to change to rain tires, and as proven by the spinning No. 12 Comtoyou Aston Martin, visibility wasn’t the only concern as the grip wasn’t there too, with cars twutching on straight line at Safety Car speed, while the brave who remained on track with slick tires to delay pit stop procedures were automatically sliding off the track.
 
When there was only six minutes to go, the heavy rain was gone and the field was allowed to race, with the Mercedes Nos. 9 and 10 from Boutsen VDS leading the field, but the No. 10 was quickly dispatched by the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche and the No. 48 Winward Mercedes, with the latter trying a late lunge in the second placed car, only to fail miserably and go down to fifth.
 
With a more measured approach, Maro Engel cut through the field and returned to third overall, but the winning No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes and the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche were to far ahead. The No. 10 Boutsen VDS still saved an overall top-5 finish while comfortably winning the Silver Cup.
 
GTWC Europe - Barcelona Race 1 results
 
Right behind the No. 10, the No. 111 CSA Racing Audi won the Gold Cup by beating the No. 6 Engstler Audi, while in the Bronze Cup, the No. 188 Garage 59  McLaren had a more comfortable way to the class win.
 

The Sunday had a clear sky as the clouds left the circuit overnight, and while everybody behind was going three or four wide when space allowed, the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche was leading the way after defending the position from the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren. Too much bumping had an adverse effect in the No. 111 CSA Racing Audi, as the Race 1 Gold Cup winner limped to the pits with a flat right rear tire.
 
The No. 159 kept a really close watch in the No. 96 car ahead, with both also pitting very early in the window, While the No. 96 kept the lead, the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin took second place from the No. 159, while the No. 48 Winward Mercedes was relatively isolated in fourth place as the championship was in control since the No. 32 WRT BMW was in seventh with strong Pro Cup competition ahead.
 
As the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin held everybody behind until their tires lost the peak of the gripm the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche had a clear way to the win, and despite a late pace drop, the No. 48 Winward Mercedes did the job to secure the title from fourth place.
 
GTWC Europe - Barcelona Race 2 results
 
The No. 88 Attempto Audi just made the enough to hold the No. 6 Engstler Audi to secure Gold Cup honors while the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes completed the Silver Cup sweep with authority as the No. 30 WRT BMW held the class competition for more than half of the race. Rutronik Racing also celebrated Bronze Cup honors with the No. 97 Porsche that had a good second half of racing to comfortably leave the opposition behind.
 
Lucas Auer and Maro Engel lifted the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup title with 116.5 points against the 105.5 of Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor, with the teams title going to Winward by 6.5 points over WRT. This became the third time that WRT didn’t lift the Sprint Cup drivers title for two years in a row and the first time the Belgian team missed the teams title for more than a season in sequence.
 
In the Gold Cup, Max Hofer and Luca Engstler got the title with 119.5 points over the 114 of Simon Gachet and Lucas Legeret and the 109 Paul Evrard and Gilles Magnus. Liqui-Moly Team Engstler also conquered the teams title.
 
In the Silver Cup, Calan Williams saved WRT’s weekend with the class title as he scored 118.5 points against 113.5 of Boutsen VDS’ Cesar Gazeau and Aurélien Panis, which also decided the teams title in favor of WRT in the Belgian battle.
 
Daniel Harper and Darren Leung brought the Bronze Cup title to Paradine Racing, scoring 86.5 points against 77 of Barwell’s Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell and 69 of Rutronik Racing’s Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall, which also settled the British battle for the teams title in the class.
 
The overall GTWC Europe title and the Endurance Cup one will be decided in a travel to Saudi Arabia, as the 6 Hours of Jeddah will close the season on 30 November.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP