Sixty-one cars, one title already gone: the Portimão entry list

Sixty-one cars are entered for the GT World Challenge Europe finale at Portimão on 17 and 18 October, the last of five Endurance Cup rounds and the series’ first visit to the Algarve since 2015. The three-hour race on Saturday decides a lot, but not the Endurance Cup title: that already belongs to the #48 Mercedes.

The title is already gone

Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz in the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER lead the Endurance Cup on 86 points, 27 clear of Nicki Thiim, Marco Sorensen and Mattia Drudi on 59. A three-hour race pays 25 for the win plus one for pole, so the gap can no longer be closed.

Still open: the global manufacturers’ title, where Mercedes-AMG lead Porsche by six points.

Who can win the finale

The champions start as favourites, with points in every Endurance Cup round this year. The #7 Comtoyou Aston Martin won at the Nürburgring, and the #32 WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper and Charles Weerts is third in the standings. The #80 Lionspeed Porsche brings fresh momentum: Thomas Preining clinched the DTM title on Sunday and shares the car with Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus, second and fourth at Hockenheim. Maro Engel, winner of that DTM finale, is in the #48 and Marco Wittmann in the #98 Rowe BMW. Earlier rounds went to the #7 Aston Martin at Paul Ricard, the #66 Tresor Attempto Audi at Monza and the #80 Lionspeed Porsche at Spa.

Five big names are missing

Marco Sorensen, second in the Endurance Cup, is not entered; Ross Gunn joins Thiim and Drudi in the #7. Augusto Farfus and Raffaele Marciello are absent from the #98 Rowe BMW, and Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera from the #51 Ferrari. All five chose the WEC 6 Hours of Barcelona, held on the same weekend, as Sportscar365 reported for Sorensen, Nielsen and Rovera and for Farfus and Marciello. Eight seats are still TBA, including the whole #60 JMW Ferrari.

From Marina Bay to Portimão: Max Verstappen makes his GT World Challenge debut

The best-known name on the list races the #3 Mercedes-AMG of his own team. Max Verstappen, six days after his win in Singapore, shares the car with Chris Lulham and Ben Barnicoat, replacing Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella, who are at the WEC round in Barcelona. His only GT3 race this year, the Nürburgring 24 Hours, ended with the #3 leading until a technical failure four hours from the end. Portimão is his GT World Challenge debut.

Dutch drivers to follow

Morris Schuring races the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche in the Pro class. The #77 KPX BMW is all-Dutch with Jop Rappange, Nigel Schoonderwoerd and Yelmer Buurman, and Dante Rappange, Maxime Oosten and Huub van Eijndhoven are also entered.

Rossi, Wadoux and a driver on his 101st start

Verstappen is not the only name in the Pro class that will draw a crowd. Valentino Rossi, nine-time motorcycle world champion and, by SRO’s count, now a three-time Sprint Cup race winner, shares the #46 WRT BMW with Max Hesse and Neil Verhagen. Lilou Wadoux, Ferrari’s first female factory driver, races the #50 AF Corse Ferrari with Arthur Leclerc and Albert Costa. Christopher Haase in the #84 Eastalent Audi has contested more GT World events than any other driver and reached his 100th last time out at Barcelona.

SRO also lists several one-off entries for the finale: Costa, IMSA regular Jack Hawksworth in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren, BMW factory drivers Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann alongside Formula E world champion Jake Dennis in the #98 Rowe BMW, and former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin in the #20 Motopark Mercedes-AMG. In total, SRO counts more than 70 drivers rated Platinum or Gold on the entry list.

Our hunch

The champions race without pressure and have scored in every round. Our hunch: the #48 closes the season with a win.

The full Portimão entry list

Source: official entry list, GT World Challenge Europe, as published on 12 October 2026. TBA means the driver has not yet been named.

Green flag at six on Saturday evening

Qualifying runs on Friday 16 October at 17:55 local time (18:55 CEST). The three-hour race starts on Saturday 17 October at 17:00 local time, 18:00 CEST, an evening slot announced by SRO in July. The chequered flag falls at 20:00 local time, 21:00 CEST.

Sunday belongs to the support series. The GT2 European Series, GT4 European Series and McLaren Trophy Europe all crown their champions at Portimão, and the GT2 European Series decides its first SRO GT Academy winner, who earns a 2027 Endurance Cup seat with Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, according to SRO.

Who wins the last race of the season, the new champions or a car with something to prove? Tell us in the comments.