• Star performers join celebrations at Scuola Grande della Misericordia
• Gala event formally concludes 2025 GT World Challenge Europe season
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Some of the biggest names in global motor racing were in Venice on Saturday evening (22 November) to attend the annual SRO Motorsports Group Awards. Staged at the historic Scuola Grande della Misericordia, the season-closing celebration featured many of this year's GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS stars, who were on hand to collect their trophies.
Among them were Team WRT drivers Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde. They earned full-season and Sprint Cup honours with the Belgian squad, which collected both corresponding teams’ titles. This was a milestone achievement, as Weerts and Van der Linde are the first drivers to be crowned overall champions with BMW.
Porsche was also celebrating its maiden overall success thanks to Rutronik Racing. The German squad clinched the Endurance Cup teams' and drivers' titles after a thrilling finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where Patric Niederhauser, Sven Müller and Alessio Picariello prevailed by a single point.
Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham were the big winners in the Gold Cup. They were crowned Sprint Cup champions with Emil Frey Racing after a stellar year aboard their Ferrari and won the Endurance title alongside Harry King. In the latter, they drove an Aston Martin run by the Verstappen.com Racing squad.
As such, Vermeulen and Lulham clinched the full-season title with two entirely separate teams and two very different GT3 cars. This allowed another squad to take the full-season Gold Cup teams' title, which went to Team WRT.
The Silver Cup was the only class to produce three different sets of champions. Sprint Cup honours went to Comtoyou Racing and its drivers, Jamie Day and Kobe Pauwels, who marked themselves out as stars of the future with a brilliant mid-season run in their Aston Martin. In the Endurance Cup, Century Motorsport clinched the title thanks to its ultra-consistent BMW crew of Will Moore, Mex Jansen and Jarrod Waberski.
Boutsen VDS finished as runner-up in both Sprint and Endurance, but the Belgian squad did not end 2025 empty handed. Its pairing of Aurélien Panis and Cesar Gazeau clinched the full-season Silver Cup title, the second time in a row that the #10 Mercedes-AMG duo has won this prize. Boutsen VDS was also crowned teams’ champion.
Having dominated the Bronze Cup, Kessel Racing left the ceremony with an armful of trophies. Indeed, no team secured as many titles this year as the Swiss-based Ferrari outfit. Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall earned the Sprint and full-season titles, and also collected the Endurance trophy with Conrad Laursen.
To many, victory at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is equal to a title triumph. Grasser Racing was recognised for taking overall honours – the first for Lamborghini – while Verstappen.com Racing, Walkenhorst Motorsport and Kessel Racing were celebrated for their successes in Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively. The Pro-Am class was also part of the marquee event and was won by AV Racing by Car Collection.
Among several individual honours presented during the evening, the new SRO GT Academy was of significance to GT World Challenge Europe. Aimed at unearthing the next generation of racing talent, the programme was launched this year as part of the FFSA French GT Championship and won by 19-year-old Gaspard Simon. He will receive crucial support as he makes the step up to GT World Challenge Europe next term.
Saturday's celebrations signalled the conclusion of the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS campaign. The paddock now has an opportunity to recharge during the winter months before reconvening at Circuit Paul Ricard for the traditional pre-season Prologue on 8-9 April 2026. This will be followed just a few days later by the opening race weekend on 11–12 April.
