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GT World Challenge Europe

Barcelona Friday Notebook

Daniel Lloyd’s Friday notebook from the GTWC Europe Endurance paddock at Barcelona…

Photo: Jules Benichou/21 Creation

***The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup concludes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend. The 2.9-mile circuit is hosting the final round of the championship for the fifth time.

***Team WRT is entering its final race with Audi, bringing a decorated 13-year customer racing partnership to a close. WRT has applied a special sticker saying ‘Thank You’ — with Audi’s four rings as the ‘o’ — to the front of its Pro-class Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs.

***As reported by Sportscar365 on Friday, WRT will test a pair of BMW M4 GT3s at Barcelona on Monday.

***Two paid test sessions and a Bronze driver test, each lasting 60 minutes, took place on Friday. Dean MacDonald set the pace in the paid Friday morning run, posting a time of 1:45.585 aboard Garage 59’s Silver Cup McLaren 720S GT3. Results

***MacDonald has remained in the No. 159 McLaren after replacing Ethan Simioni for Hockenheim. Simioni was shown on the provisional entry for Barcelona, but MacDonald’s name appeared on an updated version.

***The afternoon paid test was led by JP Motorsport McLaren driver Dennis Lind, who clocked a 1:45.536 to grab the fastest lap of the day.

***Completing a McLaren sweep of the day’s sessions, Miguel Ramos went quickest Friday evening’s Bronze test with a 1:46.319 effort in Garage 59’s Pro-Am car.

***Clutch bearings on both Sainteloc Junior Team Audis popped out during the opening test, causing the Hockenheim-winning No. 25 car to miss the session and the No. 26 to stop early on its out-lap, causing a red flag.

***Sainteloc sporting director Frederic Thalamy told Sportscar365 that the simultaneous and identical issues surprised the team, considering its two cars are set up by different dedicated crews. Both went on to run without problems in the next session.

***Madpanda Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG crashed in the morning, with Sean Walkinshaw losing control out of the last corner and striking the right and left-side barriers. Team boss Ezequiel Companc told Sportscar365 that while there was no engine or terminal chassis damage, the team applied extensive front and rear-end repairs that caused it to skip the rest of the day.

***Madpanda is based just outside Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, meaning the team had no trouble sourcing the necessary spare parts. It is running a two-driver Endurance lineup for the first time this season.

***Raffaele Marciello, Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon are aiming to become the first Mercedes-AMG drivers to lift the Endurance Cup since Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Yelmer Buurman in 2018.

***The Akkodis ASP trio lead Iron Lynx’s Antonio Fuoco by 11 points, meaning the No. 71 Ferrari needs to finish fourth or better to have a chance of capturing the championship. Ferrari is aiming to clinch its third consecutive Endurance Cup drivers’ title.

***The combined GTWC Europe drivers’ title is not up for grabs at the season finale, after Raffaele Marciello was confirmed the first two-time champion during the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup final round at Valencia. The GTWC Europe combined teams’ title remains open, however, with Akkodis ASP leading WRT by 16 points.

***The GT1 Sports Club by Curbstone is on the bill for the ‘Festival de la Velocidad’ at Barcelona, bringing some unique hypercars to the paddock. Seven Paganis — six Huayra Rs and a single Zonda R — were unloaded on Friday morning, while four Lamborghini Essenza SCV12s, a Porsche 935 and a McLaren Senna GTR arrived during the afternoon.

***Two 25-minute GT1 Sports Club sessions will be held on Sunday, taking place at 11:30 am. and 1:40 p.m. CEST respectively.

***Audi driver Christopher Mies gave the first call for WRT to adopt slick tires for Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts’ dramatic victory in the recent GTWC Europe Sprint Cup season finale at Valencia. Mies was driving a different WRT Audi in that race.

***Weerts recalled: “Mies said that we should put on slicks. Based on that, Wim [Everaerts, race engineer] wanted to push for the slicks. All together the engineers made the call, which went through Vincent [Vosse, team principal], who gave it the green light.”

***Weerts admitted that he was initially skeptical about the call until his Audi “came alive” in the final 10 minutes and he charged to the front. “Mies gave the idea, so I was quite thankful to him,” said the Belgian. “He’s obviously very experienced and it paid off.”

***Last time out at Hockenheim, Lucas Legeret became the first Silver-rated driver to win an Endurance Cup race overall since Andrea Rizzoli and Zaid Ashkanani who won the 3 Hours of Monza for Dinamic Motorsport in 2019.

***The minimum pit stop time for Pro-Am entries at Barcelona is 61 seconds, from pit lane entry to exit.

***The rescheduling of next year’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa has created a date clash with Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS at Suzuka. Typically, SRO Motorsports Group runs a non-clashing calendar for its series. GTWC Asia announced its provisional schedule four days before GTWC Europe issued an updated calendar, headlined by Spa’s date change to avoid a Belgian Grand Prix clash.

***Ginetta and SRO have entered a three-year agreement that will see some of the British constructor’s single-make series support next year’s Intelligent Money British GT Championship.

***It is unclear if Tresor and Car Collection will continue their partnership next season, but Italian organization Tresor expects to remain in GTWC Europe. Asked about 2023 plans, Tresor owner Ferdinando Geri told Sportscar365: “I don’t know. I have to speak with Car Collection. We have to understand first if they want me! Then we can speak. For sure, my partnership with Audi Sport will go on.”

***Tresor initially partnered with ISR Racing for its GTWC Europe debut, however that deal was called off several weeks before the season started. Car Collection provides the cars, equipment, trucks and some team members to Tresor’s two-car entry.

***The final round of the second Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series season takes place in the paddock on Saturday evening. A field of 27 drivers from GTWC Europe will tackle the 60-minute race. Beechdean AMR, which withdrew from Endurance Cup after Spa, leads the Esports standings by one point over Akkodis ASP. Attempto Racing is at the top of the Silver table, with ASP five points back.

***Saturday’s track action begins with a 90-minute Free Practice session starting at 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET). Pre-Qualifying follows at 1:40 p.m. (7:40 a.m. ET). All official sessions will be broadcast live on the GTWC Europe website and GT World YouTube channel.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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