Crowds at Brands Hatch were treated to some thrilling Bank Holiday racing as the GT World Challenge entertained in the sunshine.

The opening GT World Challenge Europe race on Sunday was one by Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer. Before in the final race of their weekend Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller seized victory.

Leclerc and Neubauer place on the top step of the podium was confirmed following a last-minute penalty for the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing machine which crossed the line first.

Ricardo Feller led initially from pole position, at the wheel of the Lionspeed Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO, from Leclerc who took the start the AF Corse Ferrari. Dani Juncadella attempted to make it three-wide in the Mercedes-AMG carrying the Verstappen name, but was forced to settle into third in the early stages.

A safety car and red flag promptly followed before any further drama could unfold, however, following Robin Knutsson’s exit from the track at Stirlings in one of the Boutsen VDS Porsches. Once the action got back underway, Feller continued where he left off, pushing away at the front.

Leclerc began to rein the Porsche in as the first stint drew to a close, however, and by the time the pit window opened, Juncadella was right on the tail of the leading duo. When the pits opened for business, it was Feller who dived in for a service first, handing over to Bastian Buus in the process. Leclerc followed him in a lap later, with Neubauer jumping into the cockpit, and the Frenchman crucially came out ahead of Buus.

Juncadella continued to circulate though, pitting last of the leading contenders. And, ultimately, his co-driver Chris Lulham filtered out into the lead once all of the driver changes were completed. While Lulham and Leclerc pressed on, Buus lost ground, initially to Dorian Boccolacci in the remaining Boutsen VDS Porsche he’d taken over from Morris Schuring. But the car which had led early on and dominated qualifying would soon be pushed back into the garage and retirement.

A further Full Course Yellow period, called for after the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Alex Aka and Dylan Pereira ended up in the gravel, gave a brief pause, ahead of a final 20-minute dash to the flag. Lulham was immediately ahead of Neubauer as racing resumed, but the Ferrari couldn’t stick with the Mercedes-AMG.

The first twist in the tale came with just a few minutes on the clock, when Lulham’s car received a five-second time penalty for a pit stop infringement. The Brit had over four seconds in his pocket by this stage, but surged through the final couple of laps to take what seemed an apparent win. There was a further penalty, though, as the Mercedes-AMG was one of several cars to receive a retrospective drive-through as the flag dropped, for yellow flag infringements.

This dropped Juncadella and Lulham outside the top-10 following a fine drive and handed the top spot to Leclerc and Neubauer. They were joined on the podium by Schuring and Boccolacci following their charging drive, while reigning Sprint Cup champions Charles Weerts and Kelvin Van Der Linde completed the top-three after running solidly, without drama, throughout the race.

Behind that, other beneficiaries of the penalties includes Amaury Cordeel and Jordan Pepper in another of the Team WRT BMWs, plus Konsta Lappalainen and Matteo Cairoli in Emil Frey Racing’s Ferrari.

Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller seized victory in the second GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS contest at Brands Hatch on Sunday afternoon.

For the Lionspeed GP duo, this completed a redemptive arc, after their Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO led earlier on, but was pushed into the garage and retirement after sinking down the order. This time around, however, it all played out perfectly for the pair.

Buus was challenged from pole by Chris Lulham in the fast starting Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing entry, but he held firm to remain at the head of the order. From there he surged away, before controlling the pace during the opening stint of the race to ensure he’d hand the car over to Feller in a strong position.

The pit stop window went off without a hitch too, with Feller resuming in the lead and immediately picking up where his co-driver left off. Feller capably managed traffic throughout the second half of the race to cross the line first, just over three seconds ahead of Juncadella, who took over from Lulham.

Lulham was pressured early on by Maro Engel in the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, but that challenge faded as the drivers were switched. By the final stint, when Lucas Auer slotted into Engel’s seat to chase Juncadella, the third placed car was handed a five-second pit infringement penalty, blunting its hopes of a runner-up finish.

At one point, it seemed as though Valentino Rossi might have been in a position to capitalise on Auer and Engel’s penalty, but the Mercedes-AMG pulled far enough clear to hold onto second. Still, fourth represented a positive result for Rossi and teammate Max Hesse, who lost ground early on before jumping the McLaren of Marvin Kirchhofer in the pits.

Behind that came a further train of Team WRT BMWs, with reigning Sprint Cup champions Kelvin Van Der Linde and Charles Weerts at the head of it. The similar machines of Jordan Pepper and Amaury Cordeel, and Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont were seventh and eighth.

Konsta Lappalainen and Matteo Cairoli in ninth and Simon Gachet and Romain Andriolo just behind that completed the top 10.

Images courtesy of Andrew Soul