After a lively and exciting season-opener at Portimão, the GT Cup Europe is heading to another superb track: it’s the grandiose Spa-Francorchamps hosting the second round of the season of the junior GT series by GT Sport. In Belgium, more exciting action and close fighting are to be expected, also because the field has grown further: 29 entries confirmed and a possibility to pass the 30-cars threshold.
The first two races in Portugal showed a clear trend: more young talents are joining the series, and doing well, and the grid is becoming more and more international, notably thanks to a strong and competitive delegation of South American drivers.
THE ‘SILVER GENERATION’ LEADS THE OVERALL STANDINGS - Leading the overall standings are Pietro Armanni and Ludovico Longoni, the new young pair of ZRS Motorsport, who won in Race 2 in the Algarve in their Porsche, only two points ahead of the winners of Race 1, Luca Franca and Guatemala’s Ian Rodríguez, at the wheel of the 992 Cup of debuting FAEMS Team. Both pairs are included in the new top class, the Silver, while the current duo lying in third are the reigning Am champions Leandro Martins-Dieter Svepes (LMR Motorsport).
Belgium is, of course, the home of Q1 Trackracing, the squad that has taken the Teams’ title in the last four seasons. No doubt they will want to shine in front of family, friends, and family. The team based in Limburg is represented in the class by young guns Lars Zaenen-Gonçalo Fernandes.
Still in the Porsche camp, Volcano Motorsport and its solo driver Evgenii Leonov are always candidates to victory, and so is Estonian young gun Alex Reimann, with EST1 Racing making their seasonal debut for the occasion.
Challenging the Stuttgart delegation will be the Prancing Horses, represented in the class by Germany’s top team Mertel Motorsport, who took the Drivers’ overall title in the 2023-24, and fields two Ferrari 296 Challenge in the class, for Simone Patrinicola-Luca Demarchi, and Antoine Berberich-Martini driving alone, and a 488 The German squad will also have a 488 Challenge for young guns Matteo Luvisi-Davide Larini.
BELGIAN AND DUTCH TEAMS EAGER TO SHINE IN PRO-AM
The Pro-Am class is also quite tight. Tsunami RT pair Davide Scannicchio-Fabio Babini lead the standings after their maiden win in Portugal, but only by 2 points over Nico Saelens-Stienes Longin, Q1 Trackracing’s leading pair, who will certainly go for the very top honours in their home event.
Almost racing at home will be Dutch outfit Burgers Motorsport by HWM, which had an excellent debut in the series with Laura van den Hengel and Paul Meijer taking a nice podium finish in Race 1 in Portugal after having led most of the race. They will seek revenge in their neighbouring country. LMR Motorsport’s pair from Brazil, Diego Nunes-Peter Ferter, already tasted the podium as well, while SP Racing is always a tough contender, with its two cars for Eugenio Pisani-Stefano Zerbi and Luca Attianese-Riccardo Romagnoli.
Ferrari is present in the class through Mertel Motorsport with two Ferrari 488s: one in the hands of Tommaso Lovati-Mauro Trentin, and a new one from this round on entrusted to Fernando Navarrete, a familiar face in the series, and young country-fellow Manuel Cañizares.
The biggest novelty in Spa, though, will be the presence of a McLaren Artura Trophy, entered by McLaren Barcelona SMC Motorsport, a double champion in the maker’s mono-brand trophy. It will be the first time that such a car races in the GT Cup Europe. At the wheel, a high-level Pro-Am pair with Germany’s Klaus Halsig and Spain’s Tommy Pintos.
THE AM CLASS, A SOUTH AMERICAN AFFAIR - The Am class, always the best-attended, has started the season under the sign of South America. Brazil’s H. de Mello, in his GDL Racing Porsche, is leading the standings, tied with country-fellow Leandro Martins and his Austrian teammate Dieter Svepes, the defending champions of LMR Motorsport. A close third is another representative of GDL Racing, Argentine Fran Viel Bugliotti, only 2 points behind.
Leading the European opposition will be Q1 Trackracing, with Nico Vandierendonck-Nathan Brauns now, while Romania’s flag is defended as always by RO1 Racing with Camil Perian-Florin Tincescu, and GDL Racing from San Marino has an additional car in the class for Giacomo Giubergia. Italy’s Ebimotors is present with two ars for Gianluigi Piccioli-Cosimo Papi and Gianluca Giorgi-Luigi Peroni, while for its return, EST1 Racing from Estonia will field a 992 also in this class for returnee Javier Ripoll Jr from Venezuela.
In the Ferrari camp, Leon Rijnbeek is faithful to Mertel Motorsport and his 488 Challenge, while in Spa there will be two Lamborghini Huracans ST. Besides the usual one of Scuderia Villorba Corse for Luciano Privitelio, another one is fielded by debuting French squad CMR, which will be making a one-off appearance at Spa with local hero Rodrigue Gillion, already seen in the series in 2021. The car sports a striking and very appropriate livery with Belgium’s colours.