GT World Challenge Europe Preview: Zandvoort
The GTWCE Sprint Cup continues its 2026 journey with Zandvoort marking this season’s penultimate event. After the three-hour Nürburgring Endurance Cup race crowned the overall champions across the Overall, Silver and Bronze categories, the Dutch venue will host a crucial Sprint Cup round this weekend, with five crews still in with a shot at Overall Sprint honours.
Entry list
45 cars, divided into 15 Pro, eight Gold, 12 Silver and 10 Bronze entries, will take on the pair of Zandvoort races this weekend. The full entry list for the upcoming Zandvoort event can be found here.
Championship standings
Entering this weekend, the overall championship picture is intriguing, with five different entries vouching for the Sprint title. The No.32 Team WRT pairing of Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts lead the way with 49.5 points, after a rather disappointing Magny-Cours round.
Things will be even tougher for the duo at Zandvoort, as the track is not the easiest to overtake on, but they are also carrying a three-place grid drop for the upcoming event, following an incident with Ben Green’s Ferrari in France.
This provides an excellent opportunity for their rivals vying for glory, with the second-placed No.80 Lionspeed GP duo of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller only two and a half points behind the leaders and the third-placed Daniel Juncadella of Verstappen Racing on 44.5 points, only five behind the top spot.
In fourth sits the AF Corse No.50 pair of Thomas Neubauer and Arthur Leclerc on 41 points, with the No.48 Winward Racing duo of Maro Engel and Lucas Auer, fresh off being crowned Endurance champions, in fifth, on 40 points, eager to pounce on any mistakes.
A reminder that a win is worth 16.5 points, with second providing 12 and third nine and a half, so mistakes could be costly in this tight of an affair.
In Gold, Tommaso Mosca and Matias Zagazeta, drivers of the No.51 AF Corse, lead proceedings with a gap of 15 points (63 vs 58), to the No.58 Garage 59 pair of Tom Fleming and Louis Prette.
Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont look set to have back-to-back celebrations, as the No.30 Team WRT drivers are set to possibly be crowned Sprint Silver Cup champions.
They currently hold a 37-point gap to Walkenhorst Motorsport’s No.34 entry, consisting of Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez in second, with 66 still in play across the four remaining races at Zandvoort and Catalunya.
As for Bronze, Winward Racing holds the lead, with Marvin Dienst and Rinat Salikhov’s No.87 entry leading the way with 47 points, eight more than Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss in second place hold, driving for 2seas Motorsport.
The track
Home to the Dutch Grand Prix in Formula One, Zandvoort has hosted numerous events, such as the Masters of Formula 3, DTM, and is set to host two Formula E rounds in 2027. The Dutch venue prepares to host its ninth GTWCE Sprint event, the first one coming in 2014.
Placed on the shores of the city of Zandvoort near the North Sea, the track bearing the same name often provides unpredictable weather and a thrilling configuration for GT drivers to handle.
With its characteristic corners being the famous Tarzan corner, the sequence making up the fast middle section and the banked final corner, Zandvoort is a tricky one for the drivers to manage in their GT3 machinery.
The narrow nature also means that qualifying will be of utmost importance in the attempt at success.
Schedule
Track action begins on Friday, 18 September 2026, with Free Practice 1 taking place at 09:00 local time (08:00 BST) and Free Practice 2 following at 13:50 (12:50 BST).
Saturday, 19 September 2026 brings Qualifying 1 at 09:50 local time (08:50 BST), with Race 1 scheduled for 14:45 (13:45 BST).
Sunday, 20 September 2026, follows the same structure, with Qualifying 2 taking place at 10:35 (09:35 BST) and Race 2 at 14:15 (13:15 BST).
Both Qualifying and the Race will be free to watch for everyone on the GTWorld YouTube channel, as will the supporting series’ races, with Porsche Carrera Cup France, GT2 and GT4 European series action on offer.
Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Comments