The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Nürburgring delivered an eventful race with a successful weekend for Comtoyou Racing and Aston Martin. Mattia Drudi, Marco Sörensen, and Nicki Thiim first secured pole position and subsequently celebrated their second win of the season. At the same time, Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz, and Maro Engel of WINWARD Racing secured the Endurance Cup title early with a fourth-place finish.
The qualifying session was traditionally held in three segments, in each of which one driver from each team took to the track. The average time for the starting grid was then determined from the lap times achieved. Thomas Fleming was fastest in the first segment in the Garage 59 McLaren, while Max Hesse won the second segment in the WRT BMW. In the third section, Ben Dörr set the fastest single time of the weekend in the RJN McLaren with 1:53.070 minutes.
Nevertheless, pole position went to the Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin driven by Drudi, Sörensen, and Thiim. With an average time of 1:53.591 minutes, the trio narrowly edged out the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG of Maxime Martin, Maximilian Götz, and Fabian Schiller.
In the race, Aston Martin then confirmed its strong form and drove to victory. Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper, and Charles Weerts finished second in the WRT BMW M4 GT3, 5.751 seconds behind. Completing the podium were Dani Juncadella, Chris Lulham, and Jules Gounon in the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The fourth place finish by Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz, and Maro Engel decided the championship. The WINWARD Racing trio thus secured the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup title even before the season finale.
The race itself was characterized by several incidents and neutralizations. Collisions occurred as early as the first turn, while multiple full-course yellow and neutralization phases shaped the events during the remainder of the race. Subsequent penalties also caused changes in the standings.
In the end, Comtoyou Racing celebrated an important victory at the Nürburgring with Mattia Drudi, Marco Sörensen, and Nicki Thiim, while WINWARD Racing with Auer, Stolz, and Engel was already able to celebrate the Endurance Cup championship early.