The #32 Team WRT BMW of Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde sealed the 2025 GTWC Europe Sprint Cup title with victory of Race 2 in the decisive finale in Valencia. The pair overturned an early advantage for the #63 Grasser Lamborghini and resisted a late challenge to secure the crown by less than a second.
A head-to-head battle for the title
The start placed the championship contenders directly against each other. Jordan Pepper launched cleanly from pole in the #63 Lamborghini, while Marvin Kirchhöfer muscled the #59 McLaren into second place at Turn 1. Van der Linde, starting fourth, wasted no time moving forward. He first dispatched the #10 Boutsen Mercedes and then used the slipstream on the main straight to pass Kirchhöfer’s McLaren.
The race soon settled into a duel between Pepper and Van der Linde, two South Africans fighting wheel to wheel for the title. Pepper defended hard, but Van der Linde never lifted the pressure and finally made the decisive move just as the pit window opened, putting the BMW ahead before handing it over to Weerts.
Weerts under pressure
The second half of Race 2 at the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup finale in Valencia saw Weerts and Luca Engstler locked together at the front. After the stops, the BMW held track position but could never break away. The Lamborghini shadowed every move, and lapped traffic gave Engstler hope as the gap dropped to under a second with only a few laps to go.
Weerts kept calm under relentless pressure, managing his pace and track position to perfection. He crossed the line just 0.885 seconds clear, clinching his fourth Sprint Cup crown. For Van der Linde, it was a first title in his debut BMW season, while Team WRT extended its record with an eleventh GTWC Europe Sprint Cup triumph.
Class victories and titles decided
Behind the lead fight, Aurélien Panis and Cesar Gazeau delivered a superb performance in the #10 Boutsen Mercedes. The French duo finished fourth overall and took Silver Cup honours, underlining their consistency in a season where they had already been title contenders. Emil Frey Racing sealed the Gold Cup championship as the #69 Ferrari of Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham came home ninth overall, inheriting the advantage when the Garage 59 McLaren received a penalty. In Bronze, the Lionspeed Porsche of Bashar Mardini and Bastian Buus took the race win, but the Kessel Ferrari of Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall did enough with a steady run to third to secure the class title.
The GTWC Europe Sprint Cup season ended with a Race 2 showdown in Valencia, confirming Team WRT’s supremacy once more.
Results: GTWC Europe Valencia Race 2
