How consistent Winward Mercedes became 2026 GTWC Endurance Champions at Nürburgring

Credit: SRO/JEP

The No.48 Mann-Filter Winward Racing Mercedes squad have been crowned GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup champions at the penultimate Endurance cup race of the season in Germany at the iconic and historic Nürburgring circuit. Here is how a consistent squad managed to be crowned champions with one round remaining.

The No.48 Mercedes squad secured a strong fourth place finish at the GTWC Nürburgring round. The result ensured that the team scored enough points to become GTWC EU Endurance champions in Germany, with a race in hand.

The team, consisting of Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz, have been thoroughly impressive throughout the 2026 GTWC EU Endurance season so far. Their consistency in the Endurance Cup has won them the title this season, with four of the five races in the cup completed.

Despite claiming the championship, the Winward Mercedes trio have not won a single race from the four races in the cup. Instead, the Mercedes squad have been consistently on the podium, with their title rivals faltering at various points throughout the Endurance season.

Auer, Engel and Stolz opened their GTWC Endurance campaign with a second place finish at Paul Ricard, beaten only by the No.007 ComToYou Aston Martin team. The No.48 Mercedes team would follow their podium in the opening race of the season, with another second place finish in Monza. Meanwhile, the Aston Martin squad were involved in a dramatic opening corner crash that saw them forced to retire from the race.

At the 24 Hours of Spa, the No.48 Mercedes squad finished in second place, establishing their ruthless consistency and strong pace, contending for the lead at every race. Meanwhile, the No.007 ComToYou Aston Martin team were forced to retire from the 24 Hours of Spa, after running for around 17 hours, after Nicki Thiim crashed heavily at Raidillon.

With their strong pace and solid consistency, the No.48 Mann-Filter Winward Mercedes team found themselves with a sizable advantage in the championship standings, going into the penultimate race of the Endurance cup, at Nürburgring.

Credit: SRO/JEP

Despite the No.007 Aston Martin squad taking a dominant race victory in Germany, their unfortunate retirements throughout this season in Monza and Spa put them at a severe disadvantage. The No.48 Mercedes team needed to finish in fourth place or better, to become Endurance champions in 2026.

Throughout the race in Nürburgring, it seemed that the Endurance title fight would continue on to the final race in Portimao. The No.007 Aston Martin led the field, with the No.48 Mercedes back in seventh position, struggling to make it past the sister Red Bull sponsored No.3 Mercedes.

However, in a shocking turn of events, the No.98 Rowe Racing BMW pitted from the lead of the race, avoiding a driver stint time penalty. The No.2 Boutsen VDS Porsche, which was running close behind the BMW, stayed out on track and eventually picked up a penalty for exceeding the driver stint time for Dorian Boccolacci. With the BMW pitting and the Porsche receiving a penalty, this ensured that the No.48 Mercedes immediately went from seventh to fifth position, just one place behind where they needed to be, in order to clinch the title.

Suddenly, with less than 10 minutes remaining in the three-hour Endurance race, the No.59 Garage 59 McLaren of Marvin Kirchöffer was handed a 10-second penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement earlier in the race. The No.59 McLaren was running in second place on the final lap, but despite opening a strong lead to the cars behind, it was not enough to keep them inside the top five. Kirchöffer came over the line in second place, but the penalty was too costly for the McLaren squad, who ended up finishing in 10th place overall.

With multiple cars running into problems and picking up penalties, the No.48 Mann-Filter Winward Mercedes team came across the line, pushed up to fourth place after the penalties, and subsequently secured their Endurance Cup title.

Speaking after the race, Maro Engel stated: "It was an exciting final ten minutes! A big thanks to Mercedes-AMG, to Winward, to these guys, it's been a great pleasure to share the car with them. We've been really consistent. Today was tough, we had our work cut out. Super happy that we managed to clinch the title."

Luca Stolz added to Engel's sentiment, saying: "In Winward, we have this 'never give up' attitude, and I think that's what we showed this weekend. To be honest, it was really difficult from Friday onwards, but in the end it worked out, so we are really proud and happy. It's taken Maro and me eight years, to win another championship! Right now, there's a lot of pressure coming off me."

Lucas Auer also added to the statement's of his co-drivers, saying: "Very tough, difficult conditions out there for everybody. We have to say a big thanks to everyone, Mercedes-AMG, what a season! It cannot get any better!"

Credit: SRO/JEP

Engel and Stolz last won the GTWC EU Endurance Cup back in 2018, racing for Black Falcon Mercedes together. Auer, on the other hand, is a first-time GTWC Endurance champion, completing the GTWC EU titles, having won the Sprint Cup back in 2024 with Mann-Filter Winward Mercedes.

Auer and Engel also seem likely to win the overall GTWC EU in 2026, with the duo leading the overall standings by over 30 points, with just two more sprint rounds and one last endurance race remaining this season. However, the duo sit 9.5 points behind the Sprint Cup championship leaders, the No.32 Team WRT BMW duo of Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts.

With the Sprint Cup title battle so close between the top five teams, the final four races of the Sprint season will be all to play for, with those results also affecting the overall GT World Challenge standings as well. The No.48 Mann-Filter Mercedes squad need to beat their rivals in the Sprint Cup in order to clean-sweep the GT World Challenge Europe in 2026.

The next round of the GTWC EU takes place in Zandvoort, the penultimate sprint cup weekend of the season. The racing action gets underway from the 18th-20th September.