Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer claimed the opening win of the 2026 Sprint Cup season at Brands Hatch. The #50 AF Corse Ferrari finished second on the road but was promoted to the top step of the podium after the #3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry was hit with two penalties.
The eventual winner spent the entirety of the 60-minute contest in P2. Leclerc took the start from second on the grid and held his place throughout the opening stint, while Neubauer emerged in second spot following the mid-race pit stop.
The #80 Lionspeed Porsche led the opening stint from pole with Ricardo Feller at the wheel. The German squad appeared to be in complete control, but the car developed a steering issue following its stop and was retired shortly afterwards.
This moved the #3 Mercedes-AMG to the head of the order. Dani Juncadella ran third during the opening phase and went longer than his rivals before ducking into the pits. The stop was not the fastest, but quick in and out laps were enough to seize the advantage.
Chris Lulham took over at the wheel of the Verstappen-backed car and appeared to be heading for a maiden series win. He was hit with a five-second penalty for a pit infringement, but had more than enough pace to overcome this and took the chequered flag first.
But a further penalty – this time for a yellow flag infringement – dropped the car well outside the points and gave AF Corse the opening win of the Sprint campaign. The #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche was classified second, while the #32 Team WRT BMW made typically strong progress from 12th on the grid to take third.
The sister #31 Team WRT BMW was fourth, followed by the #14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari and the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. The latter also produced an excellent comeback after starting 15th on the grid.
Seventh overall went to the #9 Pure Rxcing Porsche, which secured Silver Cup honours with Aliaksandr Malykhin and Aleksei Nesov sharing the controls. The same car also took the opening Endurance race of the year at Circuit Paul Ricard. The #30 Team WRT BMW led the entirety of today's race, but lost the class win to a penalty.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari was classified eighth and secured Gold Cup victory. Tommaso Mosca and Matias Zagazeta finished immediately ahead of their nearest class rivals Tom Fleming and Louis Prette in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren. The #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin completed the top 10 from 31st on the grid.
The race was red flagged early on when the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche crashed on the opening lap. The car was tipped into a spin by the #914 Porsche and made heavy contact with the barriers. Robin Knutsson was unharmed, but the race was suspended for roughly 15 minutes to carry out repairs.
Race 2 gets underway at 15:45 with the #80 Lionspeed Porsche once again starting from pole, though the German squad has work to do following the problems that caused its retirement from the opening contest. Live coverage will air on the GT World YouTube channel.
> RESULTS: Race 1