MOTORSPORT – Bahraini-British GT team 2 Seas Motorsport were denied a sensational double podium last night in the second round of the 2026 GT World Challenge (GTWC) Europe.
Competing in their #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo – which 2 Seas are operating in collaboration with Team Verstappen Racing, owned by four-time Formula One drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen – Daniel Juncadella and Chris Lulham were winners on the road in yesterday’s first of two sprints, but a post-race penalty demoted them all the way to 13th on the race’s final classification.
The pair then did well to recover in the meeting’s second sprint held later in the day, finishing as runners-up to come away with a lone podium after starting from the same position on the front row.
The events were held at Brands Hatch in England, and they marked the first of five sprint weekends on the GTWC Europe’s 2026 calendar.
Juncadella and Lulham hit the tarmac as part of a 34-strong field.
They were one of 14 cars racing in the series’ Pro Cup, while there were eight other contenders in the Gold Cup and 12 in the Silver Cup.
There were no Bronze Cup challengers on the grid as this category was absent in the meeting due to space limitations at the venue.
2 Seas’ #222 Mercedes-AMG, which is entered this GTWC Europe campaign, therefore did not compete.
In race one yesterday, 2 Seas started from row two but took advantage of a car issue that hindered early leaders Lionspeed GP in their #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo that allowed Juncadella to go up front.
Lulham later took over at the wheel and appeared to be on his way to a maiden GTWC Europe victory, and he powered to the chequered flag in first despite being hit with a five-second penalty for a pit infringement.
But a further post-race penalty for a yellow flag infringement dropped the 2 Seas car to 13th overall and 10th amongst Pro Cup runners – well out of the points and promoting the AF Corse #50 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo to the win. 2 Seas were 28.736s from first place on the final classification.
Also on the overall podium were Boutsen VDS’ #2 Porsche 911 and Team WRT’s #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
In last night’s sprint two, 2 Seas tried valiantly to chase down pole-sitters Lionspeed throughout the hour-long event, but their #80 opponents did enough to defend their position and eventually took the victory with a 3.073s gap.
Juncadella brought the car home for 2 Seas, finishing well ahead of Winward Racing’s #48 Mercedes-AMG, who completed the overall and Pro Cup podiums.
The GTWC Europe season continues later this month with round three at Monza in Italy from May 29 to 31.
It will be an endurance meeting.
There will also be a prologue on May 19 and 20 in preparation for next month’s 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium, which will be round four.
Other endurance races will be held at the Nurburgring in Germany in August and at Algarve in Portugal in October.
Other sprint weekends are 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.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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