MOTORSPORT – BAHRAINI-British GT team 2 Seas Motorsport secured leading grid positions last night for today’s two sprint races in the second round of the 2026 GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe, being held at Brands Hatch in England.
Sharing the duties in 2 Seas’ #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – which they are operating in collaboration with Team Verstappen Racing, owned by four-time Formula One drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen – Spaniard Daniel Juncadella and Briton Chris Lulham showcased their sensational pace, taking turns behind the wheel in yesterday’s pair of qualifying sessions.
Juncadella took fourth overall and fourth amongst Pro Cup runners in the first and will start from row two in today’s opening sprint, scheduled to flag off at 1.15pm, Bahrain time. Lulham then improved on that for race two, for which he qualified on the front row in second. The day’s follow-up race is slated for a 5.45pm start, also Bahrain time.
At Brands Hatch, Juncadella and Lulham are hitting the tarmac as part of a 34-strong field, featuring 14 cars in the Pro Cup, eight in the Gold Cup, and 12 in the Silver Cup.
There are no Bronze Cup contenders on the grid as this category is absent in the meeting due to space limitations at the venue. 2 Seas’ #222 Mercedes-AMG, which is entered with the #3 this GTWC Europe campaign, is therefore not competing.
In last night’s first qualifying, Juncadella clocked a fastest lap of one minute 23.223 seconds for fourth on the overall timesheet. He was 0.501 seconds off the pace of pole-sitter Feller Ricardo of Lionspeed GP, racing in the #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo.
In qualifying two, Lulham’s quickest time was 1:22.778, earning him his front-row grid spot. He was a mere 0.102s behind Lionspeed, who claimed double pole in their #80 car, driven this time by Bastian Buus. Both cars are also competing in the GTWC Europe’s Pro Cup.
Earlier yesterday, 2 Seas warmed up for their qualifying runs with impressive outings in the two free practice sessions.
In the second practice, they topped the overall times with a best lap of 1:22.932, going 0.102s quicker than their closest challenger in the field, which was Garage 59’s #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. In practice one, 2 Seas ranked fifth overall as well as in class with a fastest lap of 1:23.697. They were 0.437s from leaders Team WRT, racing in their #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
The stage is now set for today’s two sprint races – which are the first of this 10-round campaign featuring both sprint and endurance weekends.
Sprint events are also scheduled to take place 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.
Other endurance races will be held at Monza in Italy at the end of this month; at Spa in Belgium in June, which will be a 24-hour race; at the Nurburgring in Germany in August; and at Algarve in Portugal in October.
A prologue in Spa is also scheduled for May 19 and 20, in preparation for next month’s day-long spectacle.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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