The GT World Challenge Europe championship closed out its 2025 season in early October with an endurance race in Barcelona. BMW teams came away with a few trophies, including one for the overall championship.
GT World Challenge Europe has separate championships for teams that compete in the shorter Sprint Cup races and the longer Endurance Cup races. For teams that compete in both, there’s an overall championship that counts points from all the races. BMW Team WRT won the Sprint Cup title in mid-September with drivers Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts. The duo may have come up short for the Endurance Cup title, but they still scored enough points in both to win the overall championship.
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- AlManar Racing finished second in Gold Cup points.
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- Rowe Racing finished third overall in the final race.
The season finale at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona had eight BMW entries, with two of them ending up on the podium behind the winning McLaren. The #777 AlManar Racing by WRT M4 GT3 EVO of Jens Klingmann, Al Faisal Al Zubair and Ben Tuck finished second overall and in the Gold Cup class, followed in third by the #98 Rowe Racing M4 GT3 EVO Pro Cup entry of Augusto Farfus, Jesse Krohn and Raffaele Marciello. With the second-place finish, Klingmann, Tuck and Al Zubair finished second in the Endurance Cup driver points for the Gold Cup class.
Jens Klingmann (left) gets a face full of champagne from Augusto Farfus.
The #32 WRT M4 GT3 EVO of van der Linde, Weerts and third driver Ugo de Wilde finished in sixth after starting 21st. As we’ve seen throughout the season, WRT often makes up positions in pit stops and strategy, which also came into play at Barcelona to move them up to sixth. That finish was enough to give the overall driver’s championship to van der Linde and Weerts and the overall team title to WRT. “I’m incredibly happy that we were able to finish the season like this,” said WRT Team Principal Vincent Vosse. “Winning the overall titles was the big goal after the Sprint Cup titles. It didn’t look like it after qualifying, but huge thanks to the team for the spot-on strategic call in the first stint, which brought us forward.”
Mex Jansen (left), William Moore (middle) and Jarred Waberski celebrate their Silver Cup championship.
BMW also had success in the Silver Cup class with the Century Motorsport #42 M4 GT3 EVO driven by Jarred Waberski, Mex Jansen and William Moore. Like the #32 WRT entry, they also qualified poorly but had a strong race. They fifth among Silver Cup entries, enough to give them the Endurance Cup driver and team championships in the Silver class. “This season was spectacular,” said Waberski. “From the first race, we were able to score points consistently, won at Monza, and stood on the podium at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Here in Barcelona, after the spin in the first lap, we thought the title might slip away from us, but we stuck together as a team, fought back, and ultimately brought the title home.”
BMW is expected to have a strong presence in GT World Challenge Europe again next year. The 2026 season opens on the weekend of April 11th-12th at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO]
