MOTORSPORT – Bahraini-British GT team 2 Seas Motorsport and Verstappen.com Racing secured the Gold Cup title last night in the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
2 Seas, who are operating Verstappen.com Racing’s #33 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo in the series, helped their partners capture the crown with one round still to go this season after taking the victory in class yesterday in the fourth and penultimate meeting, held at the Nürburgring in Germany.
2 Seas had twice the reason to celebrate, as their very own #222 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo were also winners in class, taking first place in the Bronze Cup.
The #33 Aston Martin was driven by Harry King, Thierry Vermeulen, and Chris Lulham, while the #222 Mercedes-AMG had Ben Barnicoat, Charles Dawson, and Tom Lebbon taking turns behind the wheel.
2 Seas are co-owned by Bahrain’s Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
“The team did a great job on the car performance,” King said after bringing the car home at the end of a gruelling three-hour battle.
“It was a bit of an intense race – the safety car backed everybody up – but the pace seemed pretty supreme and we got some good overtakes, which led us into the top 10 and more importantly to secure the Gold class win.”
Vermeulen added: “It was a very fun race. My poor qualifying didn’t make it easy for us but luckily we made up a lot of positions even at the start, so I’m quite happy with that. The team has done a top job on the car.”
2 Seas’ pair of entries were part of a massive 61-car grid in yesterday’s race.
They both did well to overcome sub-par qualifying sessions earlier in the day yesterday, where the #33 crew took fifth in class at the start while the #222 trio qualified 12th amongst Bronze Cup contenders.
“Thanks to Charles and Tom, they put me in a good spot and luckily we had the speed there,” said Barnicoat, who was in the car at the chequered flag. “Great strategy from 2 Seas, and it was an honour to bring it home for them.”
Dawson added: “[We had a] mega start, then just avoided the carnage, trying to keep away from the traffic, and just slowly picked off the guys in front of us.
“It’s great to be here and experience a race like that – it’s unbelievable. Tom has done a great job and Ben all weekend – the team have done a mega job as well.”
In yesterday’s race, the #33 challengers managed to grab the lead early on and hold on to first place until the finish.
In the final half-hour with King in the car, he made a brilliant pass in the closing laps, moving up two positions into the race’s top 10 with one swoop, and they eventually took eighth overall to go along with their Gold Cup win – thus sealing the season’s Gold Cup title.
They were joined on the podium in class by Al Manar Racing by WRT’s #777 crew in their BMW M4 GT3 Evo and CSA Racing’s #111 team in their McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
In the Bronze Cup, 2 Seas’ #222 contenders gradually made their way up the order.
They were in third after the first hour before going second heading into the final 60 minutes.
Barnicoat was then able to get them at the front of their category and then defended that position well until the end while finishing 31st overall.
Also on the Bronze Cup podium were the Lionspeed GP #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) crew in second and UNX Racing’s #888 in third, also in a Porsche.
This season’s calendar in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup features five rounds across Europe.
The opening three events took place in France, Italy, and Belgium, while following last night’s events in Germany is the championship finale in Barcelona, Spain, scheduled for October 10 to 12.
2 Seas’ #222 crew have not competed over the series’ full calendar. They marked only their second participation yesterday at the Nürburgring.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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