8After Saturday's rain-soaked drama, the final GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup race in Barcelona brought sunshine, a chaotic opening lap and a controlled victory for Emil Frey Racing.
The mood around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was very different on Sunday. After the torrential rain and red flags of Race 1, the sun was back, the paddock was busy and fans once again surrounded the drivers during the autograph session. As on Saturday, Valentino Rossi and Dani Juncadella were among the most sought-after names, with a constant queue of fans waiting for a photo or an autograph.
On track, though, the calm lasted only as long as the formation lap.
Ben Green started from pole in the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, but Maro Engel immediately challenged him in the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. Green fought back into Turn 1 and contact between the two triggered a chain reaction involving championship winner Ricardo Feller's #80 Lionspeed Porsche and Andrea Frassineti's #66 Tresor Attempto Audi.
At almost the same moment, Chris Lulham made an incredible launch from sixth in the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car and briefly found himself at the head of the field. His lead lasted only as far as Turn 1, where contact with Dorian Boccolacci's #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche forced Lulham onto the escape road.
Once the dust had settled, Green was back in front, with Lulham behind him.
The two cars pulled clear during the opening stint, but the pit stops changed the picture. A slow stop for the #3 Mercedes dropped Dani Juncadella, who had taken over from Lulham, to sixth, while Thomas Neubauer emerged in second in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari.
From there, the race settled into a rhythm.
Green and Thierry Vermeulen controlled the gap at the front and never gave the Ferrari's rivals a real opportunity. The #69 crossed the line 4.454 seconds ahead, giving Emil Frey Racing its second win in three races and its first Sprint Cup 1-2, with Neubauer and Arthur Leclerc taking second.
For Juncadella and Lulham, fifth was enough to finish third in the championship standings, while Frassineti and Ariel Levi put the #66 Audi on the final step of the overall podium and took the Silver Cup victory.
Further back, one of the drives of the race came from Team WRT. Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts recovered the #32 BMW from 30th on the grid to sixth, a result that secured WRT its 12th overall Teams' Championship in fourteen seasons of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup.
The newly crowned Sprint Cup champions had a much more difficult afternoon. Feller and Bastian Buus were caught up in the opening-lap chaos, sending the #80 Porsche tumbling down the order. Front-end damage eventually left the championship-winning car 36th, a frustrating end to what had otherwise been a hugely successful season.
There were more titles settled in Barcelona. Thomas Fleming and Louis Prette, despite a disappointing weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, secured the Gold Cup title in the combined Endurance Cup and Sprint Cup standings, with the championship decided before the three-hour season finale in Portimão.
In the Sprint Cup's Bronze category, Eddie Cheever and Peter Dempsey completed their title-winning campaign with another class victory for Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing. The pair won the season finale ahead of Constantin Dressler and Dennis Marschall, adding the Bronze Cup championship to a weekend already full of title celebrations.
And that brought the Barcelona Sprint Cup weekend to a fitting conclusion: two races that could hardly have been more different. Saturday belonged to the rain, red flags and survival. Sunday brought sunshine, but the chaos arrived anyway — this time concentrated into the opening lap.
The Sprint Cup may be over, but the GT World Challenge Europe season still has one final chapter. The Endurance Cup finale awaits at Portimão on 16–17 October, where the remaining championship questions will finally be settled.
