Ben Green and Thierry Vermeulen ended the 2026 GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season with a commanding victory for Emil Frey Racing in Race 2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Green survived a chaotic opening lap before controlling the first half of the one-hour contest, while Vermeulen maintained the advantage following the mandatory driver change. The #69 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO completed 33 laps and crossed the line 4.454s ahead of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer’s #50 AF Corse Ferrari, securing the first Ferrari one-two of the Sprint Cup season.
Andrea Frassineti and Ariel Levi completed the overall podium while taking Silver Cup victory for Tresor Attempto Racing. Loris Spinelli and Mattia Michelotto claimed Gold Cup honours from fourth overall, while Peter Dempsey and Eddie Cheever completed their championship-winning Bronze Cup campaign with a fourth consecutive class victory.
Green survives chaotic 2026 GTWC Europe Barcelona Race 2 start
Green started from pole after extreme weather forced organisers to cancel Sunday morning’s Qualifying 2 session. Officials instead used each crew’s second driver’s fastest time from Friday’s wet FP2 session to determine the grid, leaving Green and Maro Engel on the front row. Pit Debrief detailed the unusual process behind the Barcelona Race 2 starting order before the delayed finale eventually began on a dry circuit.
Engel produced the stronger launch in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG and briefly moved ahead, but Green immediately attacked towards Turn 1. Contact between the pair triggered further incidents among the leading cars, with championship winner Ricardo Feller also becoming caught up in the opening exchanges aboard the #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche.
The disorder continued at Turn 3 when Engel made contact with Arthur Rougier’s Gold Cup pole-sitting #111 CSA Racing McLaren. Rougier spun across the circuit and into Feller’s path, forcing the Lionspeed driver to return to the pits with front-end damage. Feller and Bastian Buus had already secured the Sprint Cup drivers’ title in Race 1, but the damage immediately ended their hopes of completing the season with another front-running result.
Chris Lulham also made a rapid start from sixth aboard the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry. He briefly moved to the front during the Turn 1 confusion before contact involving Dorian Boccolacci’s #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche forced him to take the escape road. Green consequently emerged from the opening sequence back in first, with Lulham settling into second.
The incidents at Turn 3 also caught out the #9 Pure Rxcing Porsche, prompting Race Control to deploy the Safety Car and neutralise the field shortly after the start.
Green controls restart as Leclerc charges forward
Green retained the advantage when racing resumed, although Lulham remained close enough to prevent him from immediately building a significant margin. Behind the leading pair, Frassineti emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the opening lap, taking the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi from 12th on the grid into the leading group.
Leclerc produced an equally impressive recovery from 13th. The AF Corse driver moved rapidly through the field during the opening laps and reached fifth before passing Michelotto’s #163 VSR Lamborghini for fourth. That promoted the #50 Ferrari into direct contention with Green, Lulham and Frassineti before the mandatory driver changes.
The leading quartet gradually separated itself from the group behind, while Michelotto continued to head the Gold Cup runners. Green remained in control at the front and entered the pit-stop phase with another opportunity to convert Emil Frey Racing’s strong late-season pace into victory.
Green and Vermeulen had already returned the Swiss squad to the top step during Race 2 at Zandvoort, where Green capitalised on a restart before Vermeulen controlled the second stint. Barcelona gave the pairing an opportunity to repeat that performance in the final Sprint Cup race of the season.
Pit window creates Ferrari one-two
The mandatory driver changes ultimately strengthened Emil Frey Racing’s position. Green handed the #69 Ferrari to Vermeulen, who returned to the circuit still leading, while Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing lost crucial time during its stop.
Dani Juncadella took over from Lulham but emerged only sixth, removing the closest challenger Green had faced during the opening stint. AF Corse capitalised on that setback, with Neubauer taking over from Leclerc and emerging in second behind Vermeulen.
Tresor Attempto Racing also maintained a strong position through the pit sequence. Levi took control of the #66 Audi from Frassineti and remained third after the stops, preserving both an overall podium position and a commanding Silver Cup lead.
Vermeulen settled into the second half of the race with an advantage of approximately three seconds over Neubauer. Rather than allowing the AF Corse Ferrari to close, the Dutch driver gradually increased the gap and maintained full control of the finale.
A later Full Course Yellow briefly neutralised proceedings after Boccolacci’s Boutsen VDS Porsche stopped on circuit. However, the intervention came after the mandatory stops and did not significantly alter the order at the front.
Vermeulen completes second consecutive GTWC Europe Race 2 victory in Barcelona
Vermeulen controlled the closing stages and eventually crossed the line 4.454s ahead of Neubauer, completing a second consecutive Race 2 victory alongside Green. Their latest win followed their breakthrough success at Zandvoort and completed a significant late-season turnaround for Emil Frey Racing.
Leclerc and Neubauer secured second after an impressive recovery from 13th on the grid, giving Ferrari its first one-two finish of the 2026 Sprint Cup campaign. Their result also secured second place in the Sprint Cup drivers’ standings after a season in which the AF Corse pairing remained involved in the championship battle until the Barcelona finale.
Levi and Frassineti completed the overall podium 10.074s behind the winners. Their third-place finish gave Tresor Attempto Racing its second overall podium of the Barcelona weekend after Dylan Pereira and Alex Aka won Saturday’s rain-affected opening race.
Spinelli and Michelotto followed in fourth for VSR, while Juncadella and Lulham completed the overall top five. The final Barcelona Race 2 classification placed Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde sixth after one of the strongest recovery drives of the evening.
Weerts and Van der Linde recover from 30th
Team WRT’s #32 BMW faced a difficult task after the unusual FP2-based grid left Weerts and Van der Linde starting 30th. Nevertheless, the defending Sprint Cup champions steadily worked through the field and ultimately gained 24 positions to finish sixth.
Their recovery also contributed to another major championship success for Team WRT. Although Feller and Buus had already secured the drivers’ crown for Lionspeed GP, WRT finished the season with enough points to claim its record-extending 12th Sprint Cup Teams’ Championship.
Kobe Pauwels and Nicki Thiim followed in seventh for Comtoyou Racing, while Amaury Cordeel and Jordan Pepper gave Team WRT another top-10 result in eighth. Joseph Loake and Dean Macdonald secured ninth for Garage 59 before Race 1 winners Pereira and Aka completed the top 10.
Engel and Lucas Auer initially finished further forward in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, but officials added 10 seconds to their race time following Engel’s opening-lap contact with Rougier. The penalty dropped them to 11th in the official Race 2 results, promoting the cars immediately behind.
Frassineti and Levi combine 2026 GTWC Europe Silver Cup victory with overall Race 2 podium in Barcelona
Frassineti and Levi ended their Barcelona weekend with an impressive Silver Cup victory and outright podium for Tresor Attempto Racing. Notably, Frassineti did much of the early work by climbing from 12th into the leading group during the opening lap before challenging among the Pro Cup entries throughout his stint.
Although Leclerc moved ahead before the driver changes reshaped the order, Levi retained third overall and remained comfortably clear of the remaining Silver Cup entries. The pair therefore completed the race on the overall podium while taking their first Sprint Cup class victory of the season.
Jef Machiels and Gilles Stadsbader finished second in Silver for AF Corse from 12th overall, while Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez completed the class podium for Walkenhorst Motorsport in 15th. Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro had already secured the Silver Cup championship during the previous Zandvoort round, allowing Tresor Attempto Racing to focus solely on ending the season with a victory.
Spinelli and Michelotto take Gold Cup victory
Michelotto and Spinelli converted an impressive start into Gold Cup victory for VSR. Michelotto moved the #163 Lamborghini from 14th on the grid into the leading group during the opening phase and briefly ran among the overall podium contenders before Leclerc worked his way past.
Spinelli maintained the class lead after the mandatory driver change and brought the Lamborghini home fourth overall, 16.314s behind Green and Vermeulen. The result gave the VSR pairing its second Gold Cup victory of the Sprint Cup season.
Pereira and Aka finished second in class and 10th overall, one day after taking outright victory in the rain-hit opening contest. Simon Gachet and Romain Andriolo completed the Gold Cup podium for CSA Racing, while Tommaso Mosca and Matías Zagazeta finished fourth in class after securing the championship during Race 1.
Dempsey and Cheever clinch Bronze Cup crown
The Bronze Cup provided the final unresolved Sprint Cup drivers’ championship entering Race 2, with Dempsey and Cheever holding a commanding advantage for Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing. Dempsey started from class pole and successfully navigated the opening-lap incidents before establishing the early Bronze Cup lead.
Cheever took over for the second stint and remained in front, although Dennis Marschall rapidly closed during the final stages in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Marschall reduced the gap almost completely, but Cheever resisted the pressure to cross the line only 0.396s ahead.
The victory gave Dempsey and Cheever their fourth consecutive Bronze Cup success after completing a double win at Zandvoort and continuing their run in Saturday’s Barcelona opener. More importantly, the result secured both the Bronze Cup drivers’ and teams’ championships for Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing.
Marschall and Constantin Dressler settled for second in class from 21st overall, while Marvin Dienst and Rinat Salikhov completed the Bronze Cup podium for Winward Racing.
Emil Frey Racing closes Sprint Cup season on top
Barcelona Race 2 brought a weather-disrupted weekend to a much calmer conclusion under dry evening conditions. Green and Vermeulen converted their unconventional FP2-based pole into a convincing victory, while Leclerc and Neubauer completed Ferrari’s one-two and Frassineti and Levi combined Silver Cup honours with the final overall podium place.
The finale also completed the remaining championship battles. Feller and Buus had already sealed the Sprint Cup drivers’ title during Saturday’s opening race, while Team WRT secured the Teams’ crown on Sunday and Dempsey and Cheever completed their Bronze Cup championship with another victory.
The GTWC Europe Barcelona weekend closed a dramatic Sprint Cup campaign with Emil Frey Racing on top for the second consecutive event. Green and Vermeulen therefore end the season carrying significant momentum after turning the final two Race 2 contests into victories.
