GT World Challenge Europe: Gold Cup Glory for Garage 59 as McLarens Go 1–2 in Barcelona Qualifying

Garage 59 delivered a statement performance in qualifying for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. In a late turnaround during Q3, the team’s Gold Cup entry claimed a sensational overall pole ahead of its Pro-class sister car, while championship leaders Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG secured a solid sixth on the grid to strengthen their title hopes heading into Sunday’s three-hour race.

The qualifying order was turned upside down in the closing minutes of Q3 as Garage 59 surged to the front, completing a remarkable 1–2. The #58 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Adam Smalley, Louis Prette, and Dean Macdonald took overall pole position—and Gold Cup pole—with a combined average of 1m39.674sec. Just 0.001sec behind came the #59 sister car of Joseph Loake, Marvin Kirchhöfer, and Benjamin Goethe, securing second overall and Pro Cup pole.

Behind the McLarens, AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors secured a strong starting spot with the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Vincent Abril, and Yifei Ye. The trio were just two-tenths off pole and remain a podium threat for Ferrari’s factory-backed squad.

Fourth went to Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed, where Luca Stolz, Jules Gounon, and Fabian Schiller returned to their earlier season qualifying form in the #17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, steadily climbing the order across all three sessions.

In fifth, another standout Garage 59 entry—the #188 Silver Cup McLaren of James Baldwin, Guilherme Oliveira, and Thomas Fleming—impressed with Silver Cup pole and came within half a second of the overall benchmark.

Title fight

The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter entry of Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli, and Maro Engel remained consistently within the top eight across all three sessions. Cairoli briefly put the car among the front-runners early in Q3 with one of the quickest laps of the session, but as conditions evolved and others found time, the title leaders were pushed back to sixth overall. They line up four places ahead of their nearest rivals Patric Niederhauser, Alessio Picariello, and Sven Müller in the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, who start tenth. The #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Charles Weerts, Kelvin van der Linde, and Ugo de Wilde faces an uphill battle from 21st on the grid.

Class poles

Gold Cup: #58 Garage 59 McLaren – Smalley / Prette / Macdonald (overall pole)
Silver Cup: #188 Garage 59 McLaren – Baldwin / Oliveira / Fleming (5th overall)
Bronze Cup: #8 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 – Nicolò Rosi / Niccolò Schirò / David Fumanelli (23rd overall)