The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe series closed out its Sprint championship on the weekend of October 11th-13th. While one BMW pairing went away empty-handed after leading a class championship coming into the weekend, two other BMW teams won championships in other classes.
Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor finished second in the Pro Cup championship standings.
The BMW M Team WRT pairing of Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor came into the finale with a two-point lead over Mercedes drivers Lucas Auer and Maro Engel in the Pro Cup class, but Weerts and Vanthoor both commented that their M4 GT3 was not up to pace at Barcelona. They finished sixth and seventh in the pair of races, which allowed the Auer and Engel to grab the title as Vanthoor and Weerts finished second in the championship standings.
BMW M Team WRT celebrates the Silver class championship for Calan Williams (second from left holding the big sign).
Things went better for the BMW teams in the other classes. BMW M Team WRT missed out on the title in the Pro Cup class, but won the Silver Cup championship with driver Calan Williams, who drove with Sam de Haan for most of the year but had Sean Gelael driving with him at Barcelona (shown in top photo). Williams and Gelael finished fifth and second in the two races, which was enough to give Williams the title, his second in two years after winning the Gold Cup last year. “It is a really great way to end the weekend,” he said. “Obviously taking the Silver Cup drivers’ and teams’ championship is exactly what we came here to do. A massive thanks to Sean for stepping up. Obviously, we are all thinking of Sam and wishing him and his family all the best. I am sure he would have performed just as well if he had been here. And a huge thank you to the whole team for a mega season.”
Century Motorsport finished on the podium in both races at Barcelona.
Dan Harper and Darren Leung have also won two championships in two years. The pair won the British GT championship last year with Century Motorsport and captured the Bronze Cup class of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint championship this year with the same team, after finishing second and third in the final two races at Barcelona. The two won both races at Hockenheim back in July and never looked back, though the championship went down to the final race and some great battling with the Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini that was their primary rival for the championship.
Darren Leung and Dan Harper celebrate their Bronze class championship with Century Motorsport.
The Sprint championship of GT World Challenge Europe is over, but there’s one more race to go in the Endurance championship. The 6 Hours of Jeddah will take place on the weekend of November 28th-30th. —David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]