MOTORSPORT – BAHRAINI-British GT team 2 Seas Motorsport, owned by Shaikh Isa bin Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, are set to headline a massive 59-car grid that will be competing in the opening round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe.
The full entry list for the highly anticipated meeting – scheduled to take place Saturday and Sunday at Circuit Paul Ricard in France – has been published by series organisers.
It will be an endurance event, featuring a six-hour race, scheduled to flag off at 7pm, Bahrain time, on Saturday night and wrap up at 1am early Sunday morning.
2 Seas are set to hit the track with their two cars that are entered in this campaign.
The first is their #222 Mercedes-AMG GT3, to be driven this weekend by the all-British triumvirate of Charles Dawson, Kiern Jewiss, and Reece Barr in the Bronze class. Dawson and Jewiss are the reigning British GT Championship’s GT3 drivers’ champions, but are taking on a different challenge this year, with Barr joining them for endurance meets.
2 Seas are also competing in the Pro category, running the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Team Verstappen Racing, owned by four-time Formula One drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen. Together, they secured last season’s Gold Cup title, and will be returning this campaign to go for back-to-back crowns.
Getting behind the wheel of this contender are Briton Chris Lulham, Spaniard Daniel Juncadella, and Frenchman Jules Gounon, who completes their line-up for endurance races.
Aside from the Bronze and Pro classes, there are also entrants in the Gold and Silver divisions.
For the upcoming weekend, there are 18 cars in Pro, nine in Gold, and 16 apiece for Silver and Bronze.
Prior to the curtain-raiser, an official test day and prologue is scheduled to be held at the same venue on Wednesday and Thursday. The teams are scheduled to begin setting up their respective garages and conduct their pre-event formalities from today at Circuit Paul Ricard.
2 Seas are competing in the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe’s full calendar, featuring both endurance and sprint events.
The series’ calendar is composed of 10 rounds – five each for the two race durations. Other endurance events this campaign will be held at Monza in Italy in May; at Spa in Belgium in June, which will be a 24-hour event; at the Nurburgring in Germany in August; and at Algarve in Portugal in October.
Sprint weekends will take place at Brands Hatch in the UK in May; at Misano Adriatico in Italy in July; at Magny-Cours in France in July and August; at Zandvoort in the Netherlands in September; and at Barcelona in Spain in October.
Aside from their double GT World Challenge Europe bid, 2 Seas are also set to compete with a two-car entry in the 2026 British GT Championship.
2 Seas are also the series’ reigning GT3 teams’ champions. The pairing of Kevin Tse from Hong Kong and Ben Green from Britain will be sharing the driving duties in their #18 Mercedes-AMG GT3, while the British tandem of Aaron Walker and Kenzie Beecroft will be behind the wheel of their #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3.
2 Seas took part last week in the British GT media day at Silverstone Circuit. The stage is now set for the season’s first round, set to take place on April 25 and 26 at the same track.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh