GT World Challenge, Brands Hatch

Posted on May 22, 2026.

Words & Pictures by Keith Bluemel

The first rounds of the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup powered by AWS, were held at Brands Hatch in Kent over the weekend of 02-03 May. A strong entry of 34 GT3 cars, encompassing, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche over the three classes. These comprised of 14 cars in the PRO class, 7 in the Gold Cup class and 13 in the Silver Cup class. Within these there were four Aston Martins, three Audis, five BMWs, six Ferraris, two Lamborghinis, five McLarens, three Mercedes-AMGs and six Porsches, so quite a good spread between the eight manufacturers. Fine warm weather and the presence of the charismatic multiple times Motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi, attracted an attendance of over 23,000 over the course of the weekend.

The event is run on the full Grand Prix circuit, which gives competitors in the national series support races a rare opportunity to experience this, as opposed to the more frequently used shorter Indy circuit. There was, a total of 15 races over the two days, including two one-hour duration GTWC races on the Sunday morning and in the afternoon, interspersed with races for the Radical Cup UK, Miata Trophy, Legends Car Championship, Sports 2000 Championship and the 750MC Roadsports Championship, so with the practice and qualifying sessions there was plenty of track action over the two days. Time was even found for a supercar demonstration run during the Sunday lunch break, which included a Ferrari F40, a Lamborghini Diablo and a De Tomaso Pantera GTS. This was to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the forerunner to the GTWC series, the BPR Global GT Series, first visit to Brands Hatch in September 1996. It is also 20 years since the first GT3 race was held at Silverstone in May 2006. On the subject of anniversaries, 2026 is the centenary of the Brands Hatch circuit, with a special ‘Century of Power’ range of merchandise available in the MSV shop. Apart from the on-track action there were drift car displays in the Live Action Arena on the Saturday, whilst on the Sunday this was the province of the Supercar Collective feature, which was presented by the Drivers Union supercar club. They had displays of a broad array of exotica, together with demonstration runs, whilst a number of single marque car clubs added further variety with displays along Colin Chapman Way from the main entrance.

The first GTWC qualifying session saw the PRO class #80 Porsche 911 GT3 EVO, entered by Lionspeed GP, and driven by Ricardo Feller claim pole position for Race 1, with a lap in 1min 22.722secs. The AF Corse entered #50 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, driven by Arthur Leclerc was second quickest, just 0.249sec shy of the pole position time. Third fastest was surprisingly a Silver Cup class car, the #30 Team WRT entered BMW M4 GT3 EVO with Matisse Lismont at the wheel. In the Gold Cup class the quickest qualifier was the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing entered Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, driven by Dylan Pereira. The #51 AF Corse entered Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, driven by Tommaso Mosca, second fastest in this class and tenth overall, only 0.578sec off the overall pole position time. The closeness of the competition can be judged from the fact that less than a second covered the lap times of the top 24 cars.

In the second qualifying session, it was once again the #80 Lionspeed GP entered Porsche that claimed the overall honours, this time in the hands of Bastian Buus, who posted a time of 1min 22.470secs, eclipsing the time set by his team mate and posting the fastest time of the weekend. Second quickest in this session was the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing driven by Chris Lulham, which was only 0.102sec in arrears. Strangely, after the times set in the first session, none of the Ferraris made much of an impression in the second one. The quickest was the #14 Emil Frey entry driven by Matteo Cairoli, which was only 13^th fastest, albeit only 0.494sec off the pole position time. The quickest of the AF Corse Ferrari entries was the Silver Cup class #71 car, in the hands of Felix Hirsiger, who posted the 16^th fastest time. In this session there were 26 cars with lap times within a second of the pole position time, once again exemplifying the closeness of the competition.

Race 1 on Sunday morning initially only lasted one lap, as it was red-flagged when the #10 Porsche of Robin Knuttson was tagged and spun heavily into the Barrier at Stirling’s Bend, fortunately without injury to the driver. Debris was widely spread and the crash barrier damaged, thus needing repair before racing could resume. This resulted in around a 15 minutes delay before the race could be restarted. From the restart the pole-sitting #80 Lionspeed Porsche took the lead, just as it had done at the first start, heading the #50 Ferrari and the #3 Mercedes-AMG. It managed to pull out a few car’s lengths over the pursuing Ferrari, which in turn had a small gap over the Mercedes-AMG, whilst the rest of the field followed, having their own class battles. The situation at the head of the field remained stable through to the pit-stop window, shortly after which the leading Porsche retired with reported steering problems. The #3 Mercedes-AMG had beaten the #50 Ferrari out of the pits to take the overall lead, which it held through to the chequered flag. However, it was handed time penalties for pit-stop and yellow flag infringements, dropping it to 13^th overall, resulting in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Leclerc/Neubauer taking the race win from the #2 Porsche of Schuring/Boccollacci, followed by the #32 BMW of Weerts/van der Linde. The sister AF Corse #51 Ferrari of Mosca/Zagazeta took the Gold Cup class win. The Silver Cup win went to the #5 McLaren driven by Porter/Oliveira.

The Lionspeed team had sorted out the steering problem on their #80 Porsche in time for Race 2 on Sunday afternoon, allowing it to once again start from pole position. This time its run was problem free and the Feller/Buus driver pairing went on to take a comfortable win. The #3 Mercedes-AMG of Juncadella/Lulham didn’t incur any penalties in this race and took second place, ahead of the similar #48 example of Auer/Engel. The Gold Cup class win went to the #555 McLaren of Andrioli/Gachet, from the Race 1 class winning #51 Ferrari of Mosca/Zagazeta. In the Silver Cup class, the win was taken by the #30 BMW of Lismont/Montenegro, with the #52 Ferrari of Machiels/Spinelli taking the final podium spot. The top scoring Ferrari in the PRO class was the #14 Emil Frey Racing entry driven Cairoli/Lappalainen, which finished ninth overall, whilst the Race 1 winning #50 example of Leclerc/Neubauer could only manage a 15^th place finish. How things can change rapidly in such a competitive field!

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint – Race 1 Podiums

Overall & Pro Class

1^st – #50, Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, AF Corse, A. Leclerc/T. Neubauer

2^nd – #2, Porsche 911 GT3R EVO, Boutsen VDS, M. Schuring/D. Boccollacci

3^rd – #32, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, C. Weerts/K. van der Linde

Gold Cup

1^st – #51, Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO, AF Corse, T. Mosca/M. Zagazeta

2^nd – #58, McLaren 750S GT3 EVO, Garage 59, T. Fleming/L. Prette

3^rd – #111, McLaren 750S GT3 EVO, CSA Racing, A. Rougier/J. Kell

Silver Cup

1^st – #5, McLaren 750S GT3 EVO, Optimum Motorsport, M.Porter/G. Oliveira

2^nd – #30, BMW M4 GT3 EVO, Team WRT, M. Lismont/I. Montenegro