Barcelona Weekend Notebook

***The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season concludes at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend with a three-hour race on Sunday.

***Most of the Endurance Cup titles are up for grabs except for the Pro-Am class which was secured by Car Collection Motorsport’s Alex Fontana, Ivan Jacoma and Niki Leutwiler last time out at the Nürburgring.

***Endurance Cup points leaders Jules Gounon, Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy hold an 18-point advantage over the ROWE Racing BMW lineup of Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly.

***A 25-point victory for Eng, Wittmann and Yelloly at Barcelona would force ASP’s drivers to finish sixth at least, or fifth if ROWE also takes the extra point for pole. The BMW factory trio could also capture the title if they finish second from pole, provided that the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG fails to score.

***Marciello and Boguslavskiy, who also lead the Sprint Cup standings, can secure the overall GTWC Europe drivers’ title this weekend. Their only challengers are Audi drivers Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi, who sit 54.5 points behind. Sixth place or better (or seventh with pole) regardless of where Feller and Drudi finish would be enough to secure the title.

***The chicane that previously formed Turns 14 and 15 has been removed, creating a faster final sector compared to previous Endurance Cup visits. Cameras will be used to monitor limits at the sweeping Turn 13, as well as at the exit of Turn 3 and the Turn 7 apex. “We’ve gone well there in the Lambo before, and we now have the faster layout, which should be interesting because I’ve not raced on that one before,” said K-PAX Racing’s Sandy Mitchell.

***ROWE team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf has said that “maximum attack” is the approach from the German squad as it seeks to reverse the deficit that emerged after ASP won an uninterrupted three-hour race at the Nürburgring.

***Naundorf said: “We take inspiration from our 2019 achievement of securing ROWE Racing’s first pole position in the European SRO series at Barcelona. Moreover, the new track layout with the smoother and faster final sector should be more suited to our BMW M4 GT3 compared to the layout with the chicane in the final corner from last year.”

***The first official practice session doesn’t take place until Saturday morning but there were opportunities for teams to run their cars on Friday in two paid test sessions and a Bronze driver test.

***Augusto Farfus set the pace in the first paid test session for Team WRT, posting a time of 1:40.324 in the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3. The Brazilian driver narrowly beat Dinamic GT’s Sven Mueller to the top spot. The second test session saw AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s finish first and second, with Davide Rigon producing a 1:40.860 to beat Robert Shwartzman.

***Hubert Haupt set the pace in the Bronze test with a time of 1:41.733 in Haupt Racing Team’s No. 79 Mercedes-AMG. The session ended under red flag conditions after the No. 55 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R spun into the gravel late in the running.

***2021 DTM Trophy champion Ben Green will make his GTWC Europe debut as a late call-up to Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Bronze Cup BMW for Barcelona. Green, who drives for Schubert Motorsport in ADAC GT Masters, replaces Thomas Neubauer.

***Walkenhorst managing director Joerg Breuer said: “Ben has impressively demonstrated his speed in the past and knows the BMW M4 GT3 perfectly through many successful races. He will certainly give us another push at the season finale.”

***Maxime Robin has joined Aston Martin team Bullitt Racing in place of Jeff Kingsley, who is absent for personal reasons. Robin finished fourth in last season’s Gold Cup with Team WRT and has raced the GTE version of the Aston Martin Vantage in the European Le Mans Series this year.

***Maxime’s brother and ELMS co-driver Arnold Robin has also joined the grid with CSA Racing. He will share the French team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with former LMP2 competitor Alexandre Cougnaud and full-season driver Arthur Rougier.

***GetSpeed Performance team principal Adam Osieka is set for his second driving appearance of the season after he won the Pro-Am class at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa with SunEnergy1 Racing. Osieka is a late addition to GetSpeed’s No. 2 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, replacing Lance Bergstein alongside Aaron Walker and Andrzej Lewandowski.

***In addition to the lineup alteration, the No. 2 Mercedes-AMG has also undergone a livery change ahead of the Endurance Cup finale. While it competed at the Nürburgring in orange, the car now sports a light blue color scheme.

***Optimum Motorsport, meanwhile, has reverted to the red and black design on the No. 5 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo last used at Monza. It ran at Spa and the Nürburgring in a predominantly chrome design that paid homage to some of McLaren’s Formula 1 successes.

***ROWE has become the official lubricant partner of all Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS series on a three-year deal starting in 2024. It builds on an existing agreement between the German motor oil and lubricant company and SRO America.

***As part of the extended affiliation, the ROWE Pole Award will be given to the overall pole-sitter at every GTWC race including both European championships.

***GTWC Europe supplier Pirelli held a development test at Barcelona last week to try out potential options for its future GT racing compounds. The test involved a BMW M4 GT3 run by Team RMG, as well as a BMW M4 GT4 and a Maserati GT2.

***The automatic invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is coming into focus with the final Bronze Cup race of the season coming up. Pure Rxcing currently leads the overall Bronze Cup teams’ standings by 26 points over Herberth Motorsport, which runs its Porsche.

***The non-competitive GT1 Sports Club series for track-only hypercars is in action this weekend. GT1 Sports Club organizer Curbstone Events is also holding a post-event test on Monday that is expected to attract some GTWC Europe teams. One team that won’t be there on Monday is WRT, which used the opportunity last year to sample the BMW M4 GT3 for the first time after its departure from Audi.

***Calan Williams won the final race of the Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series, adding five points to Team WRT’s real-world GTWC Europe Gold Cup total. Dan Harper was third overall and first in the Pro class after a penalty for on-the-road winner Jordan Pepper.

***Rutronik Racing and its driver Laurin Heinrich won the Pro-category Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series title after five races, while WRT prevailed in Gold and Boutsen VDS won Silver.

***Unusually, drag racing forms part of this weekend’s undercard in addition to the usual suite of SRO support series. The Spanish FLC Ultimate organization will hold a quarter-mile competition along the circuit’s main straight on Saturday evening. It all forms part of the Festival de la Velocidad held in memory of Formula 1 test driver Maria de Villota who passed away in 2013.

***Saturday’s track action begins with a 90-minute Free Practice session at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. EDT) followed by Pre-Qualifying at 1:25 p.m. (7:25 a.m. EDT). Qualifying and the race are scheduled for Sunday. Live online streaming starts with Free Practice.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report