GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS returns this weekend, 28–30 August 2026, at the Nürburgring for the seventh round of the season and the fourth of five Endurance Cup rounds. The main race will last three hours and will be an important battle before the series closes the season in Portimão this October.
Winward Racing Leads the Standings
The season has already brought plenty of action since the first race. The first three Endurance Cup rounds were won by three different manufacturers and three different crews: the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim at Paul Ricard; the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Rocco Mazzola, Sebastian Øgaard and Ariel Levi at Monza; and the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus at the Spa 24 Hours, after a dramatic comeback from the pit lane.
However, none of those winning crews currently leads the standings. The top position in the Endurance Cup is held by the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz, with 74 points, 41 points ahead of the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin trio. Auer and Engel, who also compete togethet in the Sprint Cup, lead the Overall Drivers’ standings with 114.5 points, compared to 77 points for Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus.
In the teams’ standings, Winward Racing leads the Overall Endurance Cup Teams’ standings with 74 points, also 40 points ahead of Comtoyou Racing. With Nürburgring being the fourth of five Endurance Cup rounds, this weekend could be very important before the season ends in Portimão.
The Endurance Cup title could even be decided at the Nürburgring. The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER only needs to finish fourth or higher to secure the title without depending on the results of its rivals.
Class Battle
The battles in the Gold, Silver and Bronze classes are also interesting to follow. #58 Garage 59 McLaren 720s GT3 currently leads the Gold Cup standings, #30 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 leads the Silver Cup, while #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 tops the Bronze Cup. The Endurance Cup class standings remain the same as after Spa, because the two Sprint Cup rounds between them do not award points for the Endurance Cup. Nürburgring will be a good opportunity for the teams behind the leaders to close the gap before the final showdown in Portimão decides the titles.
There is also an important change in the Bronze class this weekend. The #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG GT3 has another change in its driver line-up. Mikael Grenier will miss the Nürburgring race as he focuses on defending his lead in the GT World Challenge America standings. He will be replaced by Jayden Ojeda, making the line-up the #12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jayden Ojeda, Gabriel Rindone and Tom Kalender.
Ojeda comes to Nürburgring after a busy 2026 season, combining his Supercars programme with PremiAir Racing while also competing in GT racing. Together with Paul Lucchitti, the Australian driver has already taken two GT World Challenge Australia victories this season with the #66 Move My Wheels by Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Points Battle
The driver line-up this weekend includes many well-known names. Alongside the championship-leading #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER trio, there is the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim, as well as the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO of Ricardo Feller, Thomas Preining and Bastian Buus.
The #66 Tresor Attempto Racing will run the Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Rocco Mazzola, Sebastian Øgaard and Ariel Levi, while #50 AF Corse brings the Ferrari 296 GT3 of Arthur Leclerc, Sean Gelael and Lilou Wadoux. #32 Team WRT will rely on the BMW M4 GT3 of Charles Weerts, Kelvin van der Linde and Jordan Pepper, #98 ROWE Racing enters the BMW M4 GT3 of Augusto Farfus, Raffaele Marciello and Jake Dennis, while #96 Rutronik Racing brings the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Patric Niederhauser, Luca Engstler and Marco Mapelli.
There is also a change in the line-up of the #63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Temerario GT3. Sandy Mitchell will replace Maximilian Paul at Nürburgring and join Franck Perera and Mirko Bortolotti in the Lamborghini trio. Mitchell has been a Lamborghini Squadra Corse factory driver since 2021 and has experience in several GT categories, from GT4 and GT3 to Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Paul recently made his return behind the wheel, but appears not yet fully fit after his DTM crash at the Norisring.
Session Schedule (CEST / GMT+2)
For the session schedule, all times are listed in local CEST time.
On Friday, 28 August, there will be Official Paid Test Session 1 at 11:45 and the Bronze Test at 16:40. Saturday, 29 August, will continue with Free Practice 1 at 10:50 and Free Practice 2 at 16:15.
The main action comes on Sunday, 30 August, starting with Qualifying 1 at 09:45, Qualifying 2 at 10:20, Qualifying 3 at 10:35 and Qualifying Combined at 10:55, before the three-hour Main Race starts at 15:00.
With the Endurance Cup title potentially being decided at Nürburgring, this weekend will be one of the most important moments in the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe title battle.
