Getspeed wins at Portimão as GTWC Europe titles get decided

In a Saturday afternoon that marked the debut of four time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen in the GT World Challenge Europe, the No. 17 Getspeed Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Maximilian Götz, Fabian Schiller and Ralf Aron celebrated the last victory of the 2026 season, as the Portimão finale settled the overall table as well the Endurance Cup one.
 
The No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche pushed to keep the top spot from the start while the next three cars compressed themselves side by side in the first corner, only for the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche to take the second place, leaving the No. 17 Getspeed Mercedes to fight with the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari.
 

The first hour had the leading Porsches in their own battle for the lead as Maximilian Götz could only watch from third because he had no opening to attack. The situation reversed after the first pit cycle, with the No. 17 jumping to the lead with Ralf Aron, while the No. 2 and the No. 80 were battling for the second place when the second hour started. Another strong car that was approaching was the No. 3 Verstappen Mercedes, with Chris Lulham dispatching the No. 64 HRT Ford that the No. 48 Winward Mercedes had so much difficulty to overtake in the first hour, and in Lulham’s favor, the cars from second to fifth were bunching up while the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren passed the No. 48 on Lap 47, leaving Luca Stolz’ defenses exposed to Lulham.
 
With the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche and the No. 9 PURE Porsche having a clumsy contact that ended in the gravel, the Safety Car was called after a long full course yellow, and when the race resumed, the top 7 were all over each other’s bumpers, with the No. 59 succeeding in moving to third but the No. 3 spinning the No. 48 in the move to fifth, which handed the position to the No. 64.
 
When the final hour came, the No. 59 was prevailing in pace over the No. 2, and this had Joseph Loake pressing Dorian Boccolacci with all his might, forcing a side by side battle that brought Ricardo Feller to make it three-wide, and with Boccolacci backing off in the first corner to avoid a crash, the No. 59 took the second place while the No. 17 was going away with the lead.
 
On Lap 67, the top contenders went for the final stop, and while the No. 17 remained in front, the No. 80 took the second place and let the No. 2 and the No. 59 squabble for third. Way behind in the order, even behind all class leaders, the No. 3 Verstappen Mercedes had its penalty cleared and Max Verstappen was in the cockpit, having 40 minutes to recover places from 24th, with help of a brief Safety Car period as it bunched up the field.
 
Thanks to this late Safety Car, Bastian Buus had Fabian Schiller within a second ahead, but the problem was that Buus wasn’t reaching Schiller, and the second behind turned into four in the final minute, and almost five seconds back in the final lap, with the victory more than secure for the No. 17 Getspeed Mercedes.
 
GTWC Europe - Portimão race results
 
Just outside the overall podium, the No. 71 SCR Ferrari took Gold Cup honors while the No. 30 WRT BMW came right behind to win the Silver Cup. In dominant fashion and just outside the overall top 10, the No. 222 2Seas Mercedes took the Bronze Cup win.
 

Lucas Auer and Maro Engel lifted the drivers titles for the overall series and the Endurance Cup, while Luca Stolz lifts the Endurance Cup title with them. Winward Racing also got the Endurance Cup teams title, and just didn’t complete the title sweep because WRT was the best team overall.
 

Thomas Fleming and Louis Prette secured the overall Gold Cup title while AF Corse took the teams title, with ROWE Racing, Ugo de Wilde, Jens Klingmann and Tim Tramnitz sweeping the Endurance Cup Gold Cup titles.
 

The Silver Cup was a total WRT sweep, with both teams titles lifted while Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont lifting both drivers titles in the class, with Amaury Cordeel joining as Endurance Cup champions.
 

Kessel Racing and Dennis Marschall also were responsible for a class title sweep, taking all Bronze Cup titles in the overall series and in the Endurance Cup.
 
Winward Racing becomes only the tenth team to win the Endurance Cup title in 15 years of history of the series, being the second in a row to break a title sequence as WRT, Akkodis-ASP and AF Corse keep the feat of winning the Endurance Cup title more than once. In the full GTWC Europe series, WRT goes to its seventh team title, another mark within the many the Belgian team has in SRO competitions.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP