• Gounon and Juncadella triumph with polished drive at French venue
• Boutsen VDS scores emotional Gold Cup victory with Magnus and Knutsson
• Lismont and Montenegro unstoppable in Silver as Team WRT duo wins again
• Salikhov and Dienst win Bronze for Winward after 2Seas penalty
FINAL RESULT: MAGNY-COURS RACE 1
Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella steered Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing to its first overall GT World Challenge powered by AWS victory in Saturday night's Sprint Cup race at Magny-Cours.
Getting underway shortly before sunset, the 60-minute contest marked the halfway point in the Sprint Cup campaign. The result has injected new life into the title fight, with the Verstappen Racing squad now a clear threat to defending champions Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde.
Gounon took the start from pole for the second race in succession and, just as he did last time out at Misano, held his advantage through the opening sequence of corners. This time, however, he was able to build a sizeable cushion during the opening stint, giving his team significant breathing space when it came time to make their pit stop.
While Gounon was disappearing into the sunset, the chasing pack was led by two more AMG runners: Kiern Jewiss in the #222 2Seas Motorsport entry, and Lucas Auer in the #48 Winward Racing machine. The latter had made a lightning start from fourth on the grid but was unable to find his way past reigning British GT champion Jewiss.
Another man on the move during the opening phase was Thomas Neubauer. The #50 AF Corse Ferrari made a great launch to go from ninth to fifth, capped by a daring around-the-outside pass on the #46 Team WRT BMW of Max Hesse. A few laps later Hesse re-took the Ferrari, only for Neubauer to fight back again. Things went from bad to worse for the BMW, with Kobe Pauwels (#7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin) putting an excellent opportunistic move on Hesse to grab P6.
As a Bronze Cup car, the #222 Mercedes-AMG was required to meet a minimum pit stop time. This should have elevated the #48 Winward Racing entry to P2, but the former series champions lost several seconds during their stop, playing into the hands of AF Corse and Comtoyou Racing. As such the second stint began with Juncadella out front in the #3 Mercedes-AMG, followed by Arthur Leclerc in the #50 Ferrari, Nicki Thiim in the #7 Aston Martin, and Maro Engel in the #48 Mercedes-AMG.
Initially it seemed that Juncadella might cruise to victory, but with 20 minutes left on the clock the race was neutralised by a full-course yellow period, caused by multi-car collision that left the #84 Eastalent Racing Audi stranded on the infield.
The FCY lasted several laps but was not followed by a safety car; when it ended, Leclerc took a big chunk out of Juncadella's lead, the Ferrari driver seeming to get back up to speed much faster than the Mercedes-AMG. There were a few nervous faces in the Verstappen Racing garage as the gap diminished.
But Juncadella soon rediscovered his rhythm, stabilising the margin at around 2.5 seconds. It stayed this way until the chequered flag, with the #3 Mercedes-AMG scoring the win and marking another milestone in Max Verstappen's growing GT3 project.
Leclerc and Neubauer were second, while Thiim and Pauwels grabbed the first-ever Sprint Cup podium for Comtoyou Racing and Aston Martin's first in seven years. Auer and Engel were fourth, followed by the #59 Garage 59 McLaren and the #46 Team WRT BMW.
Kelvin van der Linde came home seventh in the #32 Team WRT BMW, making up vital ground during his stint – and limiting the points loss to Verstappen Racing – with a number of decisive passes. The #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche was eighth and scored a popular Gold Cup win thanks to Gilles Magnus and Robin Knutsson. This marked the Belgian squad's first triumph since the passing of its legendary patron Marc van der Straten.
Having run at the front of the overall order during the opening phase, the #222 Mercedes-AMG remained at the head of the Bronze Cup class after Charles Dawson took over from Jewiss. The British duo took the chequered flag first, but a post-race time penalty for exceeding the speed limit during the FCY cost them dear. This elevated the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG to top spot, giving Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst back-to-back class wins.
Silver Cup honours went to Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro in the #30 Team WRT BMW. The young duo qualified second in their class but were elevated to pole when the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin could not reach the grid in time due to a technical issue. This gave the BMW a clear run to the win and allowed its drivers to stretch their championship advantage.
In contrast, the gap at the top of the overall Sprint Cup standings has closed to just seven points, half of what it was before Saturday's race. Weerts and Van der Linde still lead, but Juncadella is within striking distance while Auer and Engel have also edged closer. Qualifying for the weekend's second race gets under way at 10:50 CEST on Sunday, followed by another 60 minutes of competitive action at 15:30. Both can be watched live on the GT World YouTube channel.
