Emil Frey Ferrari Dominates Sprint Cup Finale

Photo: SRO/JEP

Ben Green and Thierry Vermeulen gave Emil Frey Racing a second GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup victory in as many events as they dominated the second race at Barcelona.

Green had started from pole aboard the No. 69 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo after qualifying was cancelled amid an extreme weather alert and the grid was instead based upon Free Practice 2 times.

But there was no evidence of the storms that had gripped the region overnight with the race held in completely dry, dusk conditions and it proved far less chaotic than Saturday’s wet opener.

Vermeulen eventually finished well clear of the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer to give the Italian manufacturer its first 1-2 in the Sprint Cup.

Maro Engel in the No. 3 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo had blasted into the lead at the start — for which he was investigated but escaped sanction — but he was then very cautious into the first corner and Green stormed back ahead.

Engel tangled with the Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of recently crowned champion Ricardo Feller and then the Mercedes-AMG also hit Arthur Rougier’s Gold Cup polesitting CSA McLaren 720S GT3 Evo at Turn 3, sending it spinning into the path of Feller — who had to pit for repairs.

The safety car was called for as Alex Malykhin’s No. 9 Pure Rxcing Porsche got caught up in the Turn 3 chaos.

Green was never able to pull away on the restart from Chris Lulham, who jumped from sixth to second aboard the No. 3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG amid the first corner shenanigans, while the Silver Cup No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Andrea Frassineti climbed into third.

Another to enjoy a flying first lap was Arthur Leclerc aboard the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari and he leapt from 13th to fifth and soon dispatched of the VSR Lamborghini Temerario GT3 of Mattia Michelotto to grab fourth.

The top-four of Green, Lulham, Frassineti and Leclerc began to edge away from the Gold Cup leader Micheletto, who soon had a growing queue of Pro machines behind him.

Thierry Vermeulen maintained Green’s lead after the mandatory pit stops, but the big loser was the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG as Dani Juncadella climbed aboard down in sixth.

Vermeulen enjoyed a lead of three seconds over Thomas Neubauer in the No. 50 Ferrari and proceeded to extend that to 4.454 seconds by the checkered flag in a dominant display.

Neubauer and Leclerc had to settle for second while there was a second outright podium for Tresor Attempto Audi Racing in two races after Dylan Pereira and Alex Aka’s outright victory in the opener, as Frasinetti and Ariel Levi held on to third.

The VSR Lamborghini of Michelotto and Loris Spinelli clung on to the Gold Cup spoils in fourth, while Lulham and Juncadella were fifth after the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG was penalized for Engel’s tangle with Rougier on the eventful opening lap.

The top-six was then rounded out by 2025 Sprint Cup champions Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, who had guided their WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO up from down in 30th on the grid.

The only Sprint Cup class title still up for grabs was in the Bronze Cup and Peter Dempsey maintained the lead from pole aboard the Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche in the early stages.

His teammate Eddie Cheever III continued to lead thereafter, resisting attacks from Dennis Marschall in the No. 74 Kessel Ferrari to secure the crown in style with a fourth consecutive victory.

Another championship that was decided was the combined Endurance and Sprint Cup Gold division, which went the way of Garage 59 McLaren pair Tom Fleming and Louis Prette, despite the latter picking up a puncture in the early stages.

Source: Sports Car 365