Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus claimed victory in Race 2 of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup at Magny-Cours, giving Lionspeed GP its second Sprint Cup win of the season. The pair came out on top after an eventful race that included two Full Course Yellow periods, a red flag, and several on-track incidents.
The #7 Aston Martin of Kobe Pauwels and Nicki Thiim started from pole position after the disqualification for the #32 WRT. After the session, the BMW M4 GT4 Evo of Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts was found to be overboost. Thiim defended going into the first corners to keep Christopher Haase in the #84 Audi behind him and did that well.
Haase was meanwhilke overtaken by Marvin Kirchhöfer in the #59 McLaren, meaning Thiim had to look in his mirrors to make sure the German wouldn’t overtake him. A little further back the Mercedes-AMGs were fighting in the opening lap, with Dani Juncadella and Maro Engel touching slightly, causing the Mamba to go wide.
Engel didn’t budge and ended up in front of Juncadella again. Three minutes after the start the Comtoyou Aston Martin Racing received the message that Thiim got a time penalty for ten seconds for a jump start. More bad news followed soon, as Kirchhöfer made the McLaren come alive to close the gap between them.
Within the first ten minutes enough incidents found place, with the #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes collecting a bumper of a Porsche and the #991 Paradine BMW and the #27 Ferrari fighting and pushing each other. It caused Leung in the BMW to almost spin, but in the end it was the Ferrari ending up besides the track. The #34 Walkenhorst Aston Martin took a trip through the gravel too.
French drama for Van der Linde with DNF
Meanwhile Van der Linde had a great start, catching up twenty places after he started from P45. With fifty minutes to go, the South African drove in P25 – but had contact with the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari of Ben Green. It caused Green to spin around and likely have significant damage to the car. It leaves Van der Linde in P24, but race control was looking at the situation – a possible penalty looming.
The attention shifted back to the front soon as the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Ricardo Feller was on the tail of the #84 Audi. It looked like Feller was going for an overtake, racing in clever lines, but Haase didn’t make it easy for him. He kept Feller behind him and could briefly take a breath during the Full Course Yellow period.
Race control activated FCY because of the stranded #32 BMW. Van der Linde and Peter Dempsey in the #93 Porsche collided and led to the end of the race for WRT. The front suspension seemed to have picked up significant damage, meaning he had to leave the car on the side of the track. Not a good weekend for the championship leaders.
Bizarre crash of the #74 Ferrari causes red flag
Not long after the first FCY, race control initiated the second FCY for a big crash of Dustin Blattner in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. He was fighting with the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes. The two touched, sending Blattner into the wall, and after he bounced back across the track and into the gravel, hitting the fence.
Race director Nils Wittich notified the teams that the pit window was immediately post poned. Big chunks of bodywork was still on track and soon enough the race was red-flagged. Drivers had to line up in the pitlane at the pit exit while the repair took about 20 minutes, before the race could be restarted. Blattner was okay after the crash and evaluated in the medical centre.
At 16:23 hrs CEST the race was resumed behind the safety car for two laps, with 35 minutes left on the clock. The #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari was withdrawn from the race during the red flag due to crash damage in the incident with Van der Linde. After one lap under the green flag, which opened the split pit window.
With 23 minutes on the clock the #59 McLaren was the first one to go into the pitlane, while Thiim, Haase and Juncadella stayed out for another lap before passing the car onto their teammates. Feller handed the #80 Porsche to Bastian Buus, who quickly pushed the gap to over four seconds. With about twelve minutes to go, the #11 Aston Martin had to park it on the side, but the DNF didn’t cause any disruption for the field.
WRT Climbs Through the Field
The pit stops changed the order at the front. Matisse Lismont took over the #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 from Ignacio Montenegro and gained several positions with a strong undercut. The #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thomas Neubauer and the #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3 driven by Luca Engstler both rejoined behind the BMW.
Garage 59 lost valuable time during its pit stop. Dean Macdonald rejoined around ten seconds later than expected in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, dropping behind the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, the #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3, and the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Amaury Cordeel. After the pit cycle was completed, of Bastian Buus led the race ahead of the #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3, which also led the Silver Cup.
The Bronze Cup battle also changed after the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 received a 20-second stop-and-go penalty following the earlier accident involving the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R also received a 10-second post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane, allowing the #991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 to move into the Bronze Cup lead.
Buus Wins as WRT and Lamborghini Complete the Podium
In the closing laps, Jules Gounon continued to move forward in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, passing the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Oliver Söderström before gaining more positions. Meanwhile, the #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Patric Niederhauser closed the gap to the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thomas Neubauer and later made the pass to move into third overall.
The fight for the Gold Cup remained close until the finish, with the #111 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 of James Kell holding off the, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, and the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R.
At the chequered flag, the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus secured their second GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup victory of the season. The #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont finished second overall and claimed another Silver Cup victory after a well-timed undercut. The #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Luca Engstler and Patric Niederhauser completed the overall podium, scoring the Lamborghini Temerario GT3’s first overall GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup podium.
The #50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer finished fourth, while the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Christopher Haase and Simon Reicher completed the overall top five.
Attention now turns to the next round of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup, with the championship heading to the Nürburgring on 28–30 August.
