GT World Challenge Europe: Engel and Auer are class of the field in Brands Hatch race 2

The second race of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch delivered a tactical and tightly fought contest, with Winward Racing’s #48 Mercedes-AMG pairing of Maro Engel and Lucas Auer emerging victorious after a composed and well-managed race.

Engel leads early train as top three pull clear

At the race start, Engel got the jump from pole position on the grid, keeping Chris Lulham’s #69 Emil Frey Ferrari behind him into Paddock Hill Bend. Sandy Mitchell in the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini briefly snatched second from Lulham through the opening sequence, but the Ferrari driver regained the position at Druids, restoring the original front-row pairing.

Engel capitalized on the early skirmish to open a small gap, but Lulham quickly found his rhythm and began reeling in the leader, setting a series of purple sectors. The top three—Engel, Lulham, and Mitchell—then formed a tight train, running nose-to-tail with just half a second separating each car, while steadily pulling away from the chasing pack.

Safety car disrupts rhythm before pit stops

With just six minutes remaining before the pit window opened, a beached car in the gravel at Sheene Curve triggered a full course yellow, soon followed by a safety car intervention. Engel timed the restart perfectly to retain the lead, while Lulham had to fend off renewed pressure from Mitchell heading into Paddock Hill Bend.

On the next lap, the top trio all pitted. Lulham’s co-driver, Thierry Vermeulen, suffered a costly pitstop that lost the #69 Ferrari nine seconds, dropping them out of contention and promoting Charles Weerts in the #32 WRT BMW into second place. Mitchell also lost six seconds in the lane, allowing Ben Green in the #14 Emil Frey Ferrari to snatch third.

Late chaos reshuffles the podium

A second full course yellow, followed by another safety car, was brought out after the #97 Porsche came to a halt following contact with the McLaren of James Kell. Lucas Auer, having taken over from Engel in the #48 Mercedes, managed the second restart confidently and maintained the lead.

Drama struck again on the penultimate lap as Ben Green, running in third, went wide at Westfield and lost two positions, handing the final podium spot to the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser.

At the chequered flag, Auer secured the win for Winward Racing, finishing 1.308 seconds ahead of Weerts in the WRT BMW. The Rutronik Porsche completed the podium, with Müller and Niederhauser delivering a solid performance to snatch third.

WRT and Tresor Attempto take class wins

In the class battles, Al Faisal Al Zubair and Jens Klingmann claimed Gold Cup honours in the #777 Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW, while Silver Cup victory went to Ezequiel Perez Companc and Alex Aka in the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi.