Dylan Pereira and Alex Aka won a rain-hit GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Race 1 at Barcelona in the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3, holding off Ricardo Feller by 0.789sec. Second place puts Feller and Bastian Buus out of reach on the current Sprint Cup standings, although a pending appeal over the Misano results means Lionspeed GP’s title is not final yet.
Jewiss leads away in the wet
Rain delayed the start, and the race eventually went green with 51 minutes on the clock. Kiern Jewiss immediately took the lead in the #222 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3, passing pole-sitter Buus in the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R. Dennis Marschall climbed from seventh on the grid to second in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, while Felix Hirsiger settled into third in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 after briefly holding second.
Behind them, cars spun and collided on the soaked track, Tommaso Mosca’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari among them. Lucas Auer, meanwhile, started working his way forward from 20th on the grid in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The Austrian arrived in Barcelona fifth in the Sprint Cup standings and as the newly crowned Endurance Cup champion.
Marschall then attacked Jewiss for the lead and the two made contact. The Ferrari went through the gravel and the Mercedes picked up cosmetic rear damage, but both carried on. One lap later Marschall tried again, Jewiss left him room and the Kessel Ferrari moved into the lead.
Safety car, then red flag
Around six minutes in, Thomas Neubauer spun the #50 AF Corse Ferrari and the car had to be recovered, which brought out the safety car. Buus had slipped to eighth overall by then, although he still ran third in the Pro class.
Spins and gravel trips continued after the restart, but Marschall stayed out of trouble and quickly built a three-second lead. Hirsiger was less fortunate: a trip through the gravel dropped him from third to 13th, though he kept the Silver Cup lead. That promoted Sven Müller to third in the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Auer already up to fourth.
The Winward Racing Mercedes team made its move when the pit window opened. An early stop put Maro Engel in the #48, and he came out ahead of the #2 Porsche, now driven by Dorian Boccolacci. That was a setback for Boutsen VDS, as Müller and Boccolacci needed to win to keep their title hopes alive for Sunday.
Conditions then worsened, and when Loris Cabirou’s #55 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R got stuck in the gravel, race control showed the red flag with 28 minutes remaining and Marschall still in front. The order was reset to the end of the last full lap before the pit window opened, which put the #2 Porsche back ahead of the #48 Mercedes, and the second drivers took over for the restart.
Boccolacci hits the front
The stoppage was brief. Constantin Dressler, now aboard the #74 Ferrari, led away from Charles Dawson in the #222 Mercedes and Darren Leung in the #991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3. As Dawson and Leung fought into Turn 1, Boccolacci slipped past both to take second. Engel got caught up in the scrap, ran through the gravel and fell to seventh.
Dressler held the lead for just over a lap. The Bronze-graded driver defended hard against Boccolacci before the Frenchman found a way through, and Aka soon followed into second overall as the Gold Cup leader.
The restart also revived the #80 Porsche. After a difficult first stint for the car, Feller was quickly up to speed and climbed to fourth, although he too had to wrestle his way past Dressler as well.
Penalty ends Boutsen VDS’ title bid
With nine minutes left and the race under Full Course Yellow, the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche received a stop-and-go penalty for a colission in the pits with the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Konsta Lappalainen. It was a hammer blow in the fight for victory, and it also ended Müller and Boccolacci’s waning chance of staying in the championship fight. Boccolacci served the penalty with only minutes to go and rejoined eighth, in the middle of the group squabbling behind Dressler. That left Aka in the lead.
Bronze driver Dressler made every professional work for the position. Peter Dempsey in the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, Chris Lulham in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Engel bunched up behind him. Engel and Lulham came together and Lulham later spun. Dempsey, Dressler’s direct Bronze Cup rival, got through to take the class lead, while Engel remained stuck behind the Ferrari.
Aka holds off Feller
Out front, Feller closed in on the leading Audi and put Aka under pressure on the final lap, but he ran out of time. Aka crossed the line 0.789sec ahead after 27 laps. Pereira and Aka won from 14th on the grid and gave Tresor Attempto Racing its second outright GT World Challenge Europe victory of 2026.
Patric Niederhauser and Luca Engstler kept it clean through the chaos to finish third in the #96 Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario GT3, one of the few GT World Challenge Europe successes for the new car this year. Joseph Loake and Dean Macdonald came from 33rd on the grid to fourth in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, ahead of Bronze Cup winners Eddie Cheever and Dempsey.
Boccolacci recovered to sixth, in front of Engel. Jop Rappange and David Pittard climbed from 43rd on the grid to eighth, and second in the Gold Cup, in the #77 KPX Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Marschall and Dressler ended up ninth, while Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde completed the top ten in the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.
Silver Cup honours went to Mikey Porter and Guilherme Oliveira, who finished 21st overall in the #5 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3.
Lionspeed’s title hinges on Misano appeal
Buus and Feller now have 72 points, 18.5 more than anyone else, which makes them champions on the current standings. The title is not final yet, however. Winward Racing has appealed against the disqualification of its #48 Mercedes from third place in Race 2 at Misano, where a wheel bearing failed post-race inspection. That result stays provisional until the RACB National Court of Appeal rules.
If the disqualification stands, Neubauer and Arthur Leclerc move up from sixth to fifth in that race. They could then still take the crown on Sunday with pole position and victory, provided Lionspeed GP fails to score.
For now, Neubauer and Leclerc hold second on 53.5 points, only half a point ahead of hometown hero Dani Juncadella in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing. Weerts and Van der Linde follow on 50.5 and Engel and Auer on 45.5, while Thierry Vermeulen and Ben Green are outsiders on 40.
The Sprint Cup season concludes on Sunday. Qualifying starts at 11:10 CEST, with Race 2 following at 16:00 CEST.
