Dani Juncadella has enjoyed plenty of success during his GT World Challenge career. Most significantly, the Spanish racer won the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa in 2022 and completed the season as Endurance Cup champion.
But, until this year, he had not enjoyed the same kind of results in the Sprit Cup. Juncadella ran a single season back in 2017, which ended without a podium.
He’s made up for lost time in 2026. Driving for Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Juncadella scored runner-up finishes at Brands Hatch and Misano before taking a maiden win at Magny-Cours – a result that has fired him into title contention. And all of this white representing one of the most famous names in motor racing.
"Ideally it would have been way earlier!" he says of the breakthrough victory. "At Brands Hatch we 'won' the opening race – we crossed the line in first – but then we had a penalty due to a yellow flag infringement, so we lost that win.
“That would have been a sweet start to the Sprint season, but we had to wait a bit longer and we won finally in Magny-Cours. Still, better late than never! It was good to go into the summer break with that."
That first Sprint triumph was followed by by a P3 in the Endurance round at the Nürburgring, the Verstappen Racing squad’s maiden podium finish at a long-distance GT World Challenge event. It was another important step for this fledgling team.
"I think it's been a very, very solid start to the project," says Juncadella. "The AMG GT3 is a well-known car to all the teams that run it. That adds to the challenge for Verstappen Racing because we're competing against teams that have known the car for seven, eight years. 2 Seas [which runs the #3 entry alongside Verstappen Racing] knows the car, for sure, but in a Pro environment it's always harder. You have some really top teams running the Mercedes, so that is not easy."
A DATE WITH THE DUNES
Next up the team tackles its home event at Zandvoort. The Dutch circuit means a lot to Juncadella, who won the Masters of Formula 3 race there in 2012 (other winners of this legendary contest include Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton). More than just good memories, it's a circuit he loves to drive.
"It's one of those tracks with no track limits, because there's not many run-offs, so you cannot afford too many mistakes. And that's cool; as a driver, that's what we all like, to be able to race to the limit. It also has a very nice combination of high-speed corners with some very twisty sections, so it's not easy to set up the car. You're going for maximum downforce, and that's where the AMG GT3 is one of the strongest.
"I think the biggest challenge of Zandvoort is the fact that it's so hard to overtake. You really need to qualify up front; you need to nail that quali lap, nail the tyre preparation to extract the maximum out of the Pirelli tyre.”
Juncadella heads to the Dutch track third in the standings, just five points off the top. When it comes to the Sprint championship, he's flying solo: Juncadella shared with Chris Lulham at Brands Hatch, then with Jules Gounon at Misano and Magny-Cours while Lulham recovered from illness. The Brit is back in the car for Zandvoort and will aim to support Juncadella's title bid.
"We go race by race. I think WRT has historically been very strong in Sprint, especially in pit stops; they are the benchmark, and so is Lionspeed. We need to be spot on for the rest of the season in pit stops.
"Qualifying has always been a strength of the AMG GT3, so we know that we're going to be strong in the races to come. But we'll need to be very quick, make no mistakes in the pits, and then that will give us a shot at winning the championship. It's going to be super tight."
"THE BEST GT CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE WORLD"
Juncadella had been an occasional presence in GT World Challenge since claiming the Endurance crown in 2022. This year's he's undertaking his first complete programme since 2017 – and he's relishing the opportunity.
"Being back in GT World Challenge is very cool. I think it's the best GT championship in the world, at least in terms of driver level, and I think it's the hardest. Everything feels a bit like a sprint race. Even the endurance races feel like a sprint race because so many cars can win.
“In most of the other top-level GT championships around the world you need to race with an amateur or a Silver driver. So I think the level of pro drivers in [GT World Challenge] is the highest. That's why I like being back because it’s pushing me to be a better driver every day."
He's also very pleased to have rejoined Gounon, a long-time friend and one of his co-drivers (along with Raffaele Marciello) for the 2022 title and Spa victory.
"We get along very well," confirms Juncadella. "We've known each other for so many years and we know our strengths, we know our weaknesses. So I think we complement each other very nicely. And that's something that is key in this kind of racing, to know who you have next to you and how you can help each other develop the team and the car."
Combined with the raw talent of Lulham, they've certainly helped to develop the team this term. Verstappen Racing may be in its first season with a Pro line-up, but don't rule out Juncadella rewarding Max's squad with a maiden title in Sprint.