Monday 01 / September / 2025
NÜRBURGRING: Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair, Jens Klingmann and Ben Tuck secured outright victory in the Gold Cup category at the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS at the Nürburgring in Germany on Sunday.
The stunning result in their BMW M4 GT3 EVO strengthens the team’s grip on second place in both the Endurance Cup’s Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships and means that the outcome of the title race will be decided at the final round in Barcelona in October.
Initially, it looked as though Chris Lulham, Thierry Vermeulen and Harry King had earned Gold Cup success and guaranteed that the Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin team had sealed the endurance title with a race to spare. But they were awarded a 10-second penalty after the race and slipped back to third position behind the CSA Racing McLaren.
A delighted Al-Zubair said: “I think it was a very solid weekend. We started off very strongly in free practice. The BMW has been quite positive this weekend. In previous years, we have seen the BMW struggling against some manufacturers, like the Ferrari and the Mercedes. To come away with a win this weekend is something we should be very proud of.
“As a team and a manufacturer, to come away with this result at such a prestigious track like the Nürburgring is something extremely satisfying. It is my first win here personally. I am extremely happy and hoping to be able to carry this momentum into the final two races.”
The Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW lined up second in the Gold Cup category behind the Garage 59 McLaren for the start of the three-hour endurance race on the 5.1km GP-Strecke circuit.
Al-Zubair ceded a place to Vermeulen in the Verstappen.com Racing Aston Martin early in the stint before the yellow flag caused a brief stoppage. For the remainder of the first stint, the Omani closely shadowed the Aston Martin in third place with Adam Smalley out in front in the Garage 59 McLaren. The Tresor Attempto Racing Audi pulled out after five laps.
Al-Zubair handed over to Tuck for the second stint but Vermeulen stayed out right until the end of the one-hour opening session and moved into the Gold Cup lead before all the changeovers were carried out.
Once the nine Gold Cup driver changes had taken place after 32 laps, Chris Lulham retained the advantage for the Verstappen.com team from Louis Prette in the Garage 59 McLaren and Tuck in the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW. Tuck then passed Prette and settled into second place. Prette then retired the Garage 59 McLaren after 45 laps.
Another full course yellow stopped the action around the two-hour mark and the time of the final driver change, as Klingmann replaced Tuck in the Al-Manar Raving by Team WRT BMW. The German retained second place behind Harry King heading into the remaining 57 minutes with action restarting after 62 laps with 45 minutes on the clock.
There were no late dramas and Klingmann brought the BMW to the finish behind the Aston Martin to grab second place for Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT. The CSA Racing McLaren crew rounded off the podium finishers and lost ground on Al-Manar Racing in the battle for second place in the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships.
But then the 10-second penalty was later awarded to the Verstappen.com car and the outcome of the Endurance Championship now goes on to the final round in October.
The Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW had ran strongly in the initial tests and that was a valuable shakedown foe the free practice session on Saturday morning.
The car was on the pace again in the free practice stint as well and a fastest tour of 1min 55.297sec was the reward – the second quickest time in the entire field of 61 cars behind the Herberth Motorsport Porsche. The crew were the quickest of all the Gold Cup contenders in pre-qualifying as well with the fourth fastest run of 1min 55.189sec.
Qualifying was split into three sessions with the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT car finishing fifth of the Gold Cup entrants in Q1, second in Q2 and seventh in Q3. With the three times combined, pole position went to the Garage 59 McLaren of Adam Smalley, Louis Prette and Dean Macdonald. The Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT BMW qualified in second ahead of the Optimum Motorsport McLaren.
The team is back in action for the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup in Valencia on September 19th-21st.
2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
TEAMS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Verstappen.com Racing 106pts
2. Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT 94pts
3. CSA Racing 84pts
4. Team RJN 36pts
5. Optimum Motorsport 36pts
6. Garage 59 34pts
7. Herberth Motorsport 33pts
8. Paul Motorsport 33pts
9. Tresor Attempto Racing 29pts
10. Ring Motorsport 23pts
DRIVERS – latest Gold Cup standings
1. Lulham/Vermeulen/King 106pts
2. Al-Zubair/Klingmann/Tuck 90pts
3. Gachet/Rougier/Kell 84pts
4. Foster/Barr/Buncombe 34pts, etc
