- Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER aims for the championship in Barcelona
- Lucas Auer and Maro Engel are just two points behind the leaders
- Lucas Auer: "Whoever delivers on point and puts the best package on track will be champion"
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season is entering the home straight. The championship will be decided on Sunday (13 October) at the final race weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Winward Racing and the two Mercedes-AMG Performance Drivers Lucas Auer (AUT) and Maro Engel (GER) are within striking distance of the leaders in both the teams’ and drivers’ standings. A total of 35 championship points are still up for grabs in the two one-hour races and the qualifying sessions. In the teams’ standings, Winward Racing is five and a half points behind Team WRT, while in the drivers’ standings, Auer and Engel are just two points behind their title rivals Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both BEL).
The two driver pairings have been on par since the start of the season, with each securing one pole position, three wins and four further podium finishes. Auer and Engel won at Brands Hatch, Hockenheim and Magny-Cours with the #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Over the course of the season, the title contenders were never separated by more than seven championship points. The decisive showdown will now take place at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Since the Grand Prix track traditionally allows for few overtaking manoeuvres, qualifying and race strategy are particularly important. In recent years, Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing regularly won titles in the Endurance Cup. In 2022 and 2023, both the drivers’ and the teams’ championships went to Affalterbach. The last overall championship in the Sprint Cup was won by AKKA ASP Team in 2019.
Race Facts
Four Mercedes-AMG GT3s (2x Winward Racing, 2x Boutsen VDS)
P5 drivers' standings: Maximilian Götz (GER) and Jules Gounon (AND) with Boutsen VDS #9
P2 drivers' and P3 teams’ standings Silver Cup: César Gazeau, Aurélien Panis (both FRA) and Boutsen VDS
Opening of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: 1991
Track length: 4.657 kilometres (layout without chicane, since 2021)
Corners: 14 (8 right, 6 left)
Track characteristics: medium-speed, fast right-handers and slow left-handers lead to one-sided tyre wear
GT3 lap record: 1m 40.743s (2024)
Top speed: 272 km/h
Race start: Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm CEST
Mercedes-AMG is also competing in the supporting programme, in the Fanatec GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli
"Our objective is clear: we want to bring the title back to Affalterbach after 2019. In Barcelona, it will mainly come down to qualifying. With good starting positions, we can reduce the risk at the start. Besides, the track generally offers few overtaking opportunities. Our two teams with PRO entries, Winward Racing and Boutsen VDS, have a lot of experience and are strategically well positioned to get the maximum out of the circumstances. Our title contenders Maro and Lucas are very seasoned when it comes to sprint formats, as they regularly demonstrate in the DTM. I am looking forward to the weekend both confident and ambitious."
Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing
"I've had a lot of fun so far in my debut season in this series. It's a great championship with strong competition. I'm really happy that we're in the mix at the front and that we have a cool title showdown in Barcelona ahead of us. The championship is always the dream, but when you're new to a series, you can't assume that you'll be in the title fight right away. In Barcelona, qualifying is very important, but you also can't ignore the extreme tyre wear. That's why anything can still happen, especially at the end of the race. Our competitors are strong and rarely make mistakes. It will depend on the form on the day. Whoever delivers on point and puts the best package on track will be champion."
Lucas Auer, Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER #48
"I'm delighted to be competing for the championship in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup together with Luggi. The big difference compared to the DTM is that we have to find a compromise for two drivers when setting up the car. Luggi and I make a great team, and we have a strong crew behind us in Winward Racing. Having finished as the runner-up in this series twice, the motivation to win the title is obviously huge. I have fond memories of the track in Barcelona, where the Mercedes-AMG GT3 has always performed well in the past. Therefore, I hope that we can show this strength again during the final weekend. We want to win the race and if we achieve this goal, we will also win the championship."
Maro Engel, Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER #48
"The GT World Challenge is always a big task and we have a very strong opponent in Team WRT. It will be all about the details and avoiding mistakes. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 has many strengths. The car must be perfectly prepared and set up for the track. We have great confidence in our drivers. We also race with Maro and Luggi in the DTM – where they compete against each other – but that's why they are well attuned with each other and the team. This is certainly a major advantage and we have consciously chosen to have the team and drivers know each other from many series. All in all, we would be well advised to approach the final race weekend in the same way as every other."
Christian Hohenadel, Team Principal Winward Racing
