The moment of truth has arrived: the last and decisive round is around the corner. Reconnecting with tradition, the season’s grand finale will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the technical and demanding 4.657-km track on the outskirts of the Catalan capital, always an attractive and pleasant venue for the GT Cup Europe contenders.
The focus, though, will be on the racing and the fight for the crown, as the GT Cup Europe arrives at the last stop with all the title battles open and close as never before. Historically, this has also been a round attracting several additional entries. It will be so this year too, with the 25 cars entered, the largest grid of the season, including four Ferraris, which make a strong comeback.
OVERALL: THE FINAL HWM-FAEMS DUEL
The 2026 season has seen a year-long duel at the top of the overall standings between the HWM Motorsport Porsche of Jurriaan De Back and Paul Meijer, and the FAEMS Team by Ebimotors Porsche of Pietro Delli Guanti and Matteo Luvisi, but only one of the pairs can be proclaimed Champion on Sunday afternoon.
Both the Dutchmen and the Italians have won three races, but De Back-Meijer are in the lead with a 14-point gap, which is in reality 8, taking into account that the leaders, who have scored in all races, have their two worst results (6 points at the moment) to drop. No doubt that the duel will be heated.
Mathematically (with 30 points still to be awarded), but realistically with little chance, also Lodovico Longoni (ZRS Motorsport), who has won two races and is 25 net points behind, is still in the race, and so are Diego Stifter and Ludovico Laurini (BiRace Motorsport), who have clinched their maiden race win at the last round, and lie 28 net points from the top.
Fighting for a maiden race win, there will be two other Silver contenders, Matteo Martinelli and Giacomo Pedrini in the other FAEMS by Ebimotors cars, and one of the Ferrari 296 Challenge cars entered by AF Corse.
The prestigious squad is making its debut in the series and has entrusted one of its cars to Johnny Kamiskey, the 18-year-old Ferrari Challenge North America Trofeo Pirelli champion.
PRO-AM: ANOTHER GREAT DUEL
It will also be a duel between two for the Pro-Am title. Leading the standings is the GT Corse Porsche of Spaniards Alejandro Barambio and Borja García, ahead of Fgani Salubre, the Filipino driver in one of the other HWM Motorsport cars that has emerged as the top challenger. The leaders have one more race win (4 vs 3) and an advantage of 6 points, which drops to only one in net points. The final fight cannot be closer. For the occasion, Salubre, who has had different teammates throughout the season, will be associated with the expert Nico Vandierendonck, who has been called out of his semi-retirement.
On their side, the Brazilian-Portuguese pair composed of Flávio Sampaio and Bernardo Pinheiro (LMR Motorsport) will aim at clinching the final third position in the class and their maiden race win, with another Lusitanian José Barros (AF Motorsport) also in contention.
There will be more candidates for victory, though, starting with Davide Scannicchio and Fabio Babini (Tsunami RT), who already took one win at Monza, and the three new contenders joining for this round. Estonia’s EST1 Racing is back in the series, with the always fast Alex Reimann associated with Keijo Kaasik, while French pair Eric Trémoulet-Olivier Jouffret (Vic’ Team) will make their debut in the series. Like in Monza, BiRace Motorsport will enter a second car, this time with Paolo Calcagno joined by Andrea Gallo.
In the role of local heroes will be the red-and-yellow Ferrari of Goat Racing, entrusted to well-known touring car stars Pepe Oriola and Rubén Fernández.
AM: THE MOTHER OF ALL BATTLES
The word ‘fight’ takes on all its meaning when talking about the situation at the top of the Am class. Here, four pairs will be fighting for the crown and going into the final round covered by only four net points!
In the lead are Hans Wijs and Rick van Zijverden, in the third HWM car fighting for a title next weekend, who have 47 points (42 net). In second are the Fernandos, Navarrete and Pedrera, the Spanish pair of Tsunami RT, with 45 points (40 net). They are followed by two tandems, who don’t have to drop points: reigning double champions Leandro Martins-Dieter Svepes (LMR Motorsport, 44 points) and GDL Racing’s Giacomo Giubergia and Cássio H. de Mello (42 points). Little can be added to say how exciting this fight will be.
With 10 cars, the Am class is by far the best-attended, and all the others will aim at finishing the season on a high. Evegenii Leonov and Volcano Motorsport are back and always to be taken into consideration, as are championship regulars Nelson Monteiro and Nelson Marcondes (GDL Racing).
EST1 Racing will have a second car for Venezuela’s Javier Ripoll, another returnee to the series, while Tsunami RT enters a second car in the class for Andrii Yefimenko, from Ukraine.
Three debuting Ferraris complete the ranks. The other 296 Challenge brought by AF Corse is entrusted to Sven Schömer and Andrea Gagliardini, and Pellin Racing is back to GT Sport events with US racer Mitchell Howard Green.