Weerts and van der Linde win both Sprint Cup races at Misano, take championship lead
Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde dominated the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup weekend at Misano, winning both races in the #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
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What Happened
In scorching summer temperatures, the second Sprint Cup weekend of the season saw Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde claim commanding victories in both sprint races at Misano, Italy. Driving the #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO for Team WRT, they led from the start on Saturday and executed a perfect pit stop on Sunday to take the lead. The wins propelled them to the top of the Sprint Cup championship standings.
Valentino Rossi secures his first GT World Challenge pole position in the #46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Weerts storms from fourth to lead; Rossi penalized for jump start; Weerts/van der Linde win, Rossi/Hesse finish sixth.
Van der Linde starts second; Team WRT's pit stop puts #32 in lead; Weerts wins second race, becomes all-time Sprint Cup win leader with 20th victory. Rossi/Hesse finish fourth after tyre issue and late pass.
20victories
Weerts becomes the outright record holder for most wins in Sprint Cup history.
“It has been a great weekend here after a pretty difficult season so far so I am really happy to finally score some big points.”
“We are Sprint Cup championship leaders now, that makes us really proud. So thanks to everyone for an amazing job.”
“It’s a great shame about the missed podium, mainly because even yesterday, without the penalty, we could have finished second.”
Why this matters
The double victory vaults the duo to the top of the Sprint Cup standings, while Weerts becomes the all-time wins leader in the series. Local hero Valentino Rossi thrilled fans with his first career pole position but missed the podium due to penalties and a tyre issue.
Terms in This Story
- Sprint Cup
- A sub-series within the GT World Challenge Europe focused on shorter sprint races, as opposed to endurance races.
- Silver Cup
- A class in GT racing for driver lineups that do not include any Platinum- or Gold-rated drivers, often for rising talents.
- Full course yellow
- A race condition where all cars must slow down due to an incident on track, often leading to a safety car period.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.