The 2022 Fanatec GT Sprint season ended in spectacular style at Valencia, where Team WRT took one of the most dramatic wins in the championship's 10-year history.
It was the perfect conclusion to what had been an intensely competitive campaign. When the final chequered flag fell Team WRT was celebrating yet again, edging fierce rival Akkodis ASP for the overall teams' and drivers' titles. AF Corse had dominated the Silver Cup, while Garage 59 was the class of the field in Pro-Am.
In summing up the season there are plenty of crucial details to consider, some of which may not have been immediately obvious. With the 2022 Sprint Cup in the books, these are the key facts and figures from a memorable campaign.
• This season's Fanatec GT Sprint season consisted of 367 laps, beginning at Brands Hatch on 1 May and concluding at Valencia on 18 September. Six different brands were represented by 16 teams, while 71 drivers took part in at least one event.
• For the second year in succession, Misano delivered the biggest entry list of the season. A 27-car field took the start of the opening race at the Italian circuit, while the average grid for 2022 was 25 cars.
• No fewer than seven cars completed every lap this term. They were the #26 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi; the #32 Team WRT Audi; the #53 AF Corse Ferrari; the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Mercedes-AMG; and the #87, #88 and #89 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG entries. In 2021, only one car completed every lap in the Sprint Cup.
• Brands Hatch and Misano both staged Fanatec GT Sprint for the eighth time this year, making them the most visited circuits on the calendar. There were no new additions for 2022, though Hockenheim will host its first Sprint event next year.
• Team WRT and Audi concluded their long partnership by winning both the teams' and drivers' championships. The relationship spanned 110 Fanatec GT Sprint races and delivered 45 overall wins, nine overall teams' titles and six overall drivers' crowns.
• The drivers' title went to Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts for a third year in succession. Though it was an intensely competitive battle, their margin of victory (24 points) was considerably bigger than in 2020 (4 points) or 2021 (8.5 points).
• The biggest race-winning margin of the campaign saw the #89 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG of Marciello/Boguslavskiy come home 13.683s clear at Magny-Cours. The smallest was at Valencia, where Ulysse De Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean (#52 AF Corse Ferrari) beat the #11 Tresor by Car Collection Audi by just 0.587s.
• Dries Vanthoor became the record holder for Fanatec GT Sprint wins this term. His victory in the final race at Valencia was Vanthoor's 15th in the short-format series, one more than elder brother Laurens.
• Raffaele Marciello took four overall pole positions this season, extending his series record to 12. Charles Weerts and Ulysse De Pauw each earned two poles, while Dries Vanthoor and Simon Gachet scored one a piece.
• Eight of this season's 10 races were won from pole. The exceptions were at Magny-Cours and Valencia, both of which saw the #32 Team WRT Audi win from P2. The latter will go down as one of the most dramatic races in Fanatec GT Sprint history, with Charles Weerts making up two spots on the final lap to snatch the win.
• AF Corse enjoyed a dominant season in the Silver Cup. Ulysse De Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean guided the #53 Ferrari to six class wins, wrapping up the title with a round to spare at Misano.
• De Pauw and Jean secured two overall wins in 2022, marking the first time that a Silver crew won overall twice during the same Fanatec GT Sprint season.
• Miguel Ramos secured his second successive Pro-Am drivers' title and has won nine races across the past two seasons. It would be difficult to call it a repeat performance, however, as Ramos changed team (Garage 59), manufacturer (McLaren) and teammate (Dean MacDonald) this term, making his achievement all the more impressive.
• Eight crews scored an overall podium this season. Unsurprisingly, the title-contending line-ups of Weerts/Vanthoor and Marciello/Boguslavskiy were dominant, taking nine and eight respectively. The next best crew was the #11 Tresor by Car Collection Audi of Christopher Haase and Simon Gachet, who earned four podiums in the outfit’s debut campaign.
• Among the teams, Akkodis ASP earned the most podiums by taking 11. WRT was close behind with 10, while Tresor by Car Collection (4), AF Corse (2), Saintéloc Racing (2) and Attempto Racing (1) also earned top-three finishes this term.
• By winning the season-opening race at Brands Hatch, AF Corse gave Ferrari its first Fanatec GT Sprint victory since Misano in 2015. On that occasion, Norbert Siedler and Marco Seefried won at the wheel of a Rinaldi Racing-run 458 GT3.
• There were four weekend sweeps this season. Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (#32 Team WRT Audi) took a brace of overall wins Misano, while Ulysse De Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean (#52 AF Corse Ferrari) enjoyed a perfect Silver Cup weekend at Brands Hatch. Pro-Am saw a pair of sweeps, with Miguel Ramos and Dean MacDonald (#188 Garage 59 McLaren) dominating at Misano and Patryk Krupinski and Christian Klien (#111 JP Motorsport McLaren) unstoppable at Valencia.
• With a total of 10 wins, Ferrari was the most successful brand across all classes this season. The Italian marque scored two overall victories, six in the Silver Cup and two more in Pro-Am. It was therefore the only brand to triumph in all three categories. Audi and McLaren each scored eight wins, while Mercedes-AMG earned four.
• The 2023 Fanatec GT Sprint season will once again consist of five events. Brands Hatch and Misano will each host the series for the ninth time, while Valencia will do so for a third year and Hockenheim represents a new addition to the calendar. Zandvoort, which will make its eighth appearance on the schedule, will have the distinction of closing the full Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season on 13-15 October.