PIRELLI: RECORD-BREAKING GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE SEASON DRAWS TO A CLOSE AT PORTIMÃO
Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed win the season-ending 3 Hours. Engel and Auer crowned overall champions, and Endurance Cup champions alongside Stolz; Feller and Buus claim the Sprint Cup. The Portuguese finale sets a new attendance record for an Endurance race outside the 24 Hours of Spa.
The 2026 GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season came to a close at Portimão with victory for Ralf Aron, Maximilian Götz and Fabian Schiller in the #17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Starting from second on the grid, the German squad’s line-up secured GetSpeed’s first-ever Endurance Cup win. They finished more than five seconds clear of the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO shared by Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus. Third place went to another Porsche, the #2 Boutsen VDS entry driven by Morris Schuring, Dorian Boccolacci and Alessio Picariello.
The three-hour race, which finished after sunset, saw the top ten cars separated by just a few seconds in the opening phase. The evening start and a sharp drop in temperatures compared with Friday, brought on by a sudden wind, made the challenge even more demanding and unpredictable for the teams. Among the headline names was Max Verstappen, making his series debut with Ben Barnicoat and Chris Lulham in the Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG. Taking the wheel in 24th position after a penalty handed to the crew, the Dutchman fought his way back to finish ninth.
The 2026 champions
Maro Engel and Lucas Auer clinched the GT World Challenge Europe overall drivers’ title, decided on combined Sprint and Endurance Cup results. The title was confirmed on the eve of the Portimão race, after Winward Racing’s appeal against their disqualification at Misano was upheld. The two Mercedes-AMG drivers completed a season of remarkable consistency. This success adds to the Endurance title they had already secured with Luca Stolz in the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter car.
The Sprint Cup, meanwhile, went to Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus. The Lionspeed GP pairing built their success over a season whose highlights included victory at the 24 Hours of Spa, achieved together with Thomas Preining after starting from the pit lane.
In the teams’ standings, Team WRT (BMW) took both the overall and Sprint Cup titles, while Winward Racing (Mercedes-AMG) won the Endurance Cup teams’ classification.
Record grids
The 2026 season confirmed the growth and appeal of the GT World Challenge Europe. The two seasonal entry lists attracted a total of 104 entries: 59 in the Endurance Cup and a record 45 in the Sprint Cup, with both series at full capacity.
Numbers remained high throughout the championship, culminating at Portimão, where 61 cars representing ten manufacturers took to the track – the largest grid in Endurance Cup history outside the 24 Hours of Spa.
Matteo Braga, Pirelli Circuit Activity Manager:
‘The GT World Challenge Europe has reached a very high level of excellence, both in the quality of its crews and manufacturers and in the size of its grids. These figures confirm the championship’s growing appeal to teams and fans alike. From a technical point of view, the tyres delivered consistent performance and reliability across every race and format, from the Sprint rounds to the 24 Hours of Spa, even in the high temperatures that characterised the entire season. It is a result that rewards the work Pirelli has carried out together with the teams and manufacturers.’
GT2 and GT4: the Portimão verdicts
In the GT2 European Series, Race 1 was won by Wilhelm Kühne and Moritz Wiskirchen in the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG GT2, ahead of the Maserati GT2 of Antoine Potty and that of Philippe and Louis Prette. Race 2 went to Philippe and Louis Prette in the LP Racing Maserati GT2.
The 2026 overall title was claimed by Ethan Gialdini and Mikkel Njor in the CMR Ginetta G56 GT2.
In the GT4 European Series, the first race of the Portuguese weekend was won by Jay Mo Härtling and Joel Mesch in the SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG GT4. Race 2 victory went to Paul Petit and Grégory Guilvert in the Team Speedcar Audi R8 LMS GT4.
The 2026 Silver Cup title, the series’ main honour, was won by Charlie Hart and McKenzy Cresswell in the Elite Motorsport with Entire Race Engineering McLaren Artura GT4.