Endurance Weekly: 17th - 23rd July

Written by the DIVEBOMB Endurance Team

Credit: SRO/JEP

This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team looks back at the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) Sprint Cup at Misano, as well as reporting on all of the breaking news stories you may have missed.

GTWC EU Review

The GT World Challenge Europe returned for another round of the Sprint Cup last weekend. It was a race weekend which gave everything it possibly had to offer and everything you could possibly think of in a sprint weekend.

MotoGP Legend, Valentino Rossi, returned for a one-off wildcard appearance at Misano alongside Raffaele Marciello. The excitement was building around Rossi trying to score a third consecutive victory at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. It was the track where the Italian took his first ever GT victory back in 2023 with teammate Maxime Martin and repeated that home glory again just one year later.

Rossi managed to qualify the No.46 Team WRT BMW in third position for Race 1, and held third place during his half hour stint, before passing over to Marciello, who climbed aboard the car and immediately set the circuit on fire with impressive lap times coming one after the other. Marciello was able to close to the leading No.51 Ferrari and eventually passed the Ferrari down into Turn 11 late on into the race to seize the lead.

Further behind in the field, Maxime Martin’s No.9 Mercedes had been taken out initially at Turn 5. With the assistance of a Safety Car, they were eventually able to stay on the lead lap and close up to the field in front. Martin and teammate Luca Stolz then drove back ferociously through the field to claim a very decent 20th place result after being in last place at the end of Lap 1 and with plenty of repairs to do on that Mercedes.

Credit: SRO/JEP

Marciello drove the No.46 WRT BMW to claim an extraordinary victory and gave the Italian fans exactly what they wanted to see: Rossi on the top step of a podium once again. 

Race 2 on the other hand, was much more chaotic.

The No.59 McLaren of Ben Goethe and Marvin Kirchhöfer qualified on pole position with the No.46 BMW just behind, challenging for the overall race victory once again. Meanwhile, the No.48 Mercedes lined up in third position, whilst the championship leading No.32 Team WRT BMW of Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde started from 15th place.

On the opening lap, Kirchhöfer managed to keep the McLaren in front of a chasing Marciello inside the No.46 WRT BMW, despite Marciello sending Kirchhöfer on a much more defensive line throughout the entirety of the back straight. Suddenly, after contact between the No.991 BMW and the No.01 Lamborghini sent the Lamborghini into a fireball accident, there would be a long red flag deployment as the safety personnel came up with solutions to a completely broken inside barrier.

This contact occurred after the No.991 BMW got incredibly close to the back of the Lamborghini on the exit of Turn 11. It gave the car a small tap on the right rear, which sent the Lamborghini straight into the barrier and resulted in the car catching fire and being sent across the circuit. Georgi Donczew was able to jump out of the car quickly, thankfully remaining unharmed in the incident. 

This incident also started a difficult race for the No.991 BMW of Darren Leung and Dan Harper, as they were given a 20-second penalty. The No.991 BMW then hit a tyre in the pit lane, sending it flying down the pit lane, which would earn them another 20-second penalty. Overall it was a tough race for Harper and Leung.

Credit: SRO/JEP

Meanwhile, after almost a 3-hour red flag period, the drivers finally restarted the race with just a few minutes remaining until the pit stop window opened. Goethe in the leading No.59 McLaren came into the pits immediately, followed by the No.46 WRT BMW of Marciello, who passed over to Rossi. At the same time, the No.48 Mercedes of Maro Engel continued for another couple of laps at the front of the field, looking to jump ahead of the No.46 BMW.

Rossi had started to close the gap to the leading McLaren, with the gap coming down from 2.5 seconds,down to just 1.3 seconds. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Rossi and Marciello were given a Drive-Through penalty for speeding in the pit lane which dropped them out of podium and victory contention almost completely.

However, this enabled the No.48 Mercedes of Lucas Auer to have a proper crack at the leading No.59 McLaren of Goethe in the final few minutes. Goethe stayed strong under enormous amounts of pressure to come through and take an extraordinary victory at Misano in race 2.

It was a weekend that had everything: a home hero victory, a huge crash, phenomenal wheel-to-wheel racing and so much more.

Breaking News

Porsche’s 992.2 Generation GT3 Cup Car

Credit: Porsche

Porsche’s latest 911 Cup car entered development in January 2024 is now being developed. The car will be debuted in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in 2026 and certain Carrera Cup series. 

Porsche 992.2 Generation 911 Cup car has improved front-end aerodynamics, brakes, powertrain and handling. Like its predecessors, the Porsche will be powered by a Flat-six engine.

The powertrain is also available to be used with eFuels, as part of racing’s attempt to move away from power sources which harm the environment. 

Felix Baumgartner passes away aged 56 

Credit: Red Bull

Last Thursday Felix Baumgartner passed away in a paragliding incident which involved him falling unconscious mid-flight. 

The Austrian dare devil is best known for his jump from space in 2012 when he broke the record as the first person to break the sound barrier without any mechanical power. Baumgartner reached a speed of Mach 1.25 during the fall.

However, the racing world knows him best for his performance in the Nürburgring 24h in 2014, where he finished in ninth place.