Ferrari and Mercedes AMG win at Brands hatch

SRO

May 6

GT World Challenge powered by AWS made its annual visit to Brands Hatch last weekend for the first round of the Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch. The grid featured 10 different brands and the racing was ultra-close with Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG win a sprint race each with Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera in #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 winning sprint race 1 and last year Champions Maro Engel and Lucas Auer winning race 2 in #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. For both races, three different crews were on the overall podium and seven brands finished among the top 10.

Start Race 1 at Brands Hatch — *Copyright (C) 2025 SRO Motorsports Group.* Start race 1 at Brands Hatch.

Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera won race 1

Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera driving #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 took the chequered flag less than a second clear of the #59 Garage 59 McLaren, while just eight seconds separated first from ninth at the finish.

Pole-sitter Thierry Vermeulen (#69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari) maintained his advantage during his stint and Marvin Kirchhöfer (#59 Garage 59 McLaren) took P2 from Rovera (#51 Ferrari).

AF Corse performed a brilliant pit stop, which was enough to ensure that Abril (taking over from Rovera) returned to the circuit just ahead of Lulham (#69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari) and Goethe (#59 Garage 59 McLaren). Goethe maintained the pressure on Abril throughout the second stint. The gap remained under a second, but a driver of Abril's experience does not give away positions easily. Indeed, the Monegasque was faultless, crossing the line to secure the win by just 0.658s over the McLaren, while the #69 Ferrari was third. Source: SRO

Maro Engel and Lucas Auer won race 2

Last year drivers' champions Maro Engel and Lucas Auer started from pole Sunday's second race and kept the lead aboard the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG to clinch victory. The race was also very close as the gap at the front never extended beyond two seconds.

*Copyright (C) 2025 SRO Motorsports Group.* #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG

The #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 gained six places after a stellar pitstop and strong stints from van der Linde and Weerts to secure P2 overall, collecting the team’s first Sprint Cup podium of 2025.

Charles WEERTS, driver #32:“Wrapped up a challenging weekend at Brands Hatch, where we didn’t expect to score points after struggling in qualifying. However, we managed to execute two clean races, working with the package we had and maximising it. A podium wasn’t in our sights, but thanks to the incredible work from the pitstop crew, we made it happen! They made the biggest part of the job, and I want to thank them for the amazing preparation they put in over the winter, as well as the whole team, BMW, and my teammate Kelvin!”

Kelvin VAN DER LINDE, driver #32: “This podium finish is definitely down to the team’s incredible work, especially in the pitstops. For Team WRT to take the top 3 quickest pitstops, out of all the teams in the championship, is very impressive. It's about executing everything perfectly, as we know how to do, and these pitstops will be crucial in this championship. They’ll be key to staying in the fight until the very end”. Source: Team WRT

The #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with starting driver Niederhauser and Sven Müller stormed onto the podium from eighth on the grid.

With a flawless performance, a good strategy and a quick pit stop, the two experienced Porsche drivers were initially able to move up to fourth place. On the penultimate lap, Ben Green (#14 Ferrari) in third place made a small mistake, allowing Müller to slip through and secure the podium result. On the traditional circuit, where overtaking with GT3 cars is very difficult, this was a remarkable chase to catch up! Source: Rutronik

Next events

The CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa Prologue will take teams to the Belgian Ardennes for testing on 13/14 May, closely followed by the second Sprint Cup event at Zandvoort (16–18 May). Two weeks later, the Endurance Cup resumes with a three-hour race at historic Monza on 30 May–1 June.