Lionspeed Hits Back After 2Seas' Verstappen Racing Breakthrough

Text: Rick Kiewiet

Images: SRO

GT World Challenge Europe's Sprint Cup returned to Magny-Cours for round three with the title picture shaken up on both days. Jules Gounon, deputising for the unwell Chris Lulham, delivered a maiden overall win for Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing's 2Seas-run entry alongside Dani Juncadella on Saturday, before Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus hit back for Lionspeed GP on Sunday in a red-flagged Race 2 that also ended points leaders Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde's weekend early.

Race 1

Gounon claimed his second consecutive pole, lapping the #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG in 1m36.023s to lock out the front row with Kiern Jewiss's #222 2Seas Mercedes-AMG, which also took Bronze Cup honours. Max Hesse was the best of the BMWs in third for Team WRT's #46 car, just ahead of Lucas Auer's #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. Gilles Magnus took Gold Cup pole in the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche, while championship leader Weerts could only manage 17th in the #32 WRT BMW after a heavy kerb strike on his final run.

Gounon controlled the race from the start, building a healthy cushion before handing over to Juncadella, who emerged from the stops with the lead intact ahead of Arthur Leclerc's #50 AF Corse Ferrari. A full-course yellow with 20 minutes remaining, triggered when Christopher Haase's #84 Eastalent Audi was left stranded following contact with a guesting Sainteloc Audi and Ferrari, allowed Leclerc to close right up on the restart, but Juncadella stabilised the gap and took the flag by 2.597 seconds. Nicki Thiim and Kobe Pauwels completed the podium in the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, the marque's first Sprint Cup rostrum result in seven years. Auer and Maro Engel were fourth, with Van der Linde recovering to seventh after a string of decisive passes. Gilles Magnus and Robin Knutsson gave Boutsen VDS an emotional Gold Cup win, its first since the passing of team patron Marc van der Straten, while Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro took Silver for WRT. Jewiss and Charles Dawson looked to have taken Bronze until a post-race penalty for speeding under the FCY dropped them behind Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst's Winward Mercedes-AMG.

Race 2

Van der Linde topped Sunday's session with a 1m35.927s lap, but the #32 WRT BMW was subsequently stripped of all its times for exceeding the permitted boost pressure, demoting the car to the rear of the 44-car field. That promoted Nicki Thiim to pole in the #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin, with Haase's repaired #84 Eastalent Audi inheriting the front row. Marvin Kirchhöfer's #59 Garage 59 McLaren and Feller's #80 Lionspeed Porsche completed the top four, while Race 1 winner Juncadella could only qualify seventh in the #3 Mercedes-AMG.

Thiim led away but immediately picked up a 10-second penalty for an out-of-position start, leaving Kirchhöfer as the effective leader ahead of Haase, who kept Feller at bay in third. The race was red-flagged after 25 minutes when Dustin Blattner's #74 Kessel Ferrari was launched hard into the barriers at the Adelaide Hairpin following contact with Salikhov's Winward Mercedes-AMG as the pair fought for the Bronze lead; Blattner was taken to hospital for checks. A 30-minute stoppage and a restart behind the safety car wiped out the leaders' advantage. Van der Linde, who had climbed from the back to 25th, retired soon after when contact with Peter Dempsey's Ziggo Sport Tempesta Porsche broke the BMW's front suspension.

The delayed pit window played into Lionspeed's hands: a rapid stop vaulted Buus from fourth to the lead, and he controlled the remainder of the race to beat Lismont and Montenegro's #30 WRT BMW, which claimed a fourth Silver Cup win of the season and the runner-up spot overall, by 2.120 seconds. Luca Engstler passed Thomas Neubauer's #50 AF Corse Ferrari late on to take third alongside Patric Niederhauser, giving the Rutronik Racing Lamborghini Temerario its first Sprint Cup podium. Neubauer and Leclerc were fourth, ahead of Haase's Audi in fifth. James Kell and Arthur Rougier won Gold Cup in the #111 CSA Racing McLaren, while Darren Leung and Augusto Farfus took a first Bronze win of the year for Paradine Competition after Salikhov picked up a 20-second penalty for the Blattner incident. Gounon and Juncadella's 2Seas Mercedes-AMG could only manage eighth following a slow stop.

The result leaves the championship far tighter than it looked a fortnight ago, with Weerts and Van der Linde's Magny-Cours misery handing Feller and Buus a route back into contention. GT World Challenge Europe now breaks for the summer before an Endurance Cup date at the Nürburgring on 28-30 August, with the Sprint Cup resuming at Zandvoort on 18-20 September.