Engel, Auer Beat WRT to Sprint Cup Title in Barcelona Finale

Maro Engel and Lucas Auer were crowned Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup champions by defeating Team WRT pairing Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor in the season finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Third on Saturday and fourth during Race 2 on Sunday proved enough for the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to deny Weerts and Vanthoor a record-extending fourth Sprint Cup title, while both races produced first-time winners in Boutsen VDS and Rutronik Racing.

Jules Gounon and Maximilian Goetz emerged victorious during a chaotic, safety-car impacted opening race on Saturday, which featured a significant first lap crash involving Reece Barr and Dylan Pereira.

The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and Pereira’s No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II made contact on the run down to the first corner, leading both to hit the inside wall and causing the Audi to burst into flames.

Both drivers escaped unharmed while the safety car was called, with the neutralization extended significantly by the arrival of heavy rain, which meant that the race was only resumed with ten minutes remaining.

Gounon’s No. 9 Mercedes-AMG retained the lead at the restart, with Patric Niederhauser swiftly moved into second in the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Behind them, Engel was on the charge and on the move towards a podium, only to misjudge a move on Niederhauser and losing several places after running through the gravel.

The Mercedes-AMG factory driver recovered and passed the No. 111 CSA Racing Audi, No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG and No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to finish third.

By finishing third, Engel and Auer crucially jumped ahead of Vanthoor and Weerts in the standings by 6.5 points, as the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 finished ninth.

This ensured that a fourth-place finish during Race 2 was enough for the No. 48 Mercedes-AMG to win the title, with Vanthoor and Weerts finishing the final race in seventh.

As a result, Engel and Auer claimed their first Sprint Cup titles of their careers, giving Mercedes-AMG its first overall Sprint crown since Raffaele Marciello and Michael Meadows won the title in 2018.

The final race of the season saw Patric Niederhauser and Sven Mueller convert pole position to victory in the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche, finishing ahead of the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Nicolas Baert and Mattia Drudi.

Benjamin Goethe and Tom Gamble completed the podium aboard the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, securing a first podium finish of the season for the British squad.

In addition to the overall championship, the Barcelona finale saw title battles decided in all remaining classes.

Despite a weekend sweep for Boutsen VDS pairing Cesar Gazeau and Aurelien Panis, Team WRT driver Calan Williams did enough to capture the Silver Cup title aboard the No. 30 BMW.

The Belgian squad was forced to make a late lineup change as Sam de Haan was unable to compete in Barcelona due to personal reasons, with FIA World Endurance Championship regular Sean Gelael teaming up with Williams instead.

Fourth in class on Saturday and second place during the Sunday finale allowed Williams to secure a second consecutive Sprint Cup title with WRT, having taken the Gold Cup title alongside Niklas Kruetten last year.

Williams was succeeded as Gold Cup champion by the Liqui-Moly Team Engstler by OneGroup pairing of Luca Engstler and Max Hofer, while Darren Leung and Dan Harper sealed the Bronze Cup title.

It marks a second consecutive title for the Paradine Competition duo, having won the British GT Championship last year.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2