GT World Challenge: Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari locked in stunning three-way fight
A fierce three‑way GT World Challenge battle as Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari fight for every point at the Nürburgring.
The GT World Challenge global standings are on a knife-edge right now, with Mercedes-AMG and Porsche separated by just 29 points after 27 of 46 events. And Ferrari is right there too, lurking 95 points back and closing fast. This is not a two-horse race. This is a full-blown three-brand war and it just keeps getting better.
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GT World Challenge global standings keep flipping at the top
There have already been five lead changes between Mercedes-AMG and Porsche this season. The latest swing came after the Sprint Cup event at Magny-Cours, where Verstappen Racing finally landed its maiden overall win thanks to Jules Gounon and Dani Juncadella. Mercedes-AMG moved 29 points clear as a result. But Porsche hit back in Race 2 at Magny-Cours through Lionspeed GP’s Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus, who also pulled off another of their trademark rapid pit stops. This fight refuses to settle.
Rewind to the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and you get one of the most remarkable stories of the season. Lionspeed’s Porsche needed a full engine change before the race and had to start from the pit lane. Starting from the back of a 69-car field at Spa-Francorchamps should have ended their night. Instead, Feller, Thomas Preining and Buus carved through the entire grid to win. Genuinely one of the great endurance drives in over a century of racing at that circuit. Mercedes-AMG grabbed second through Winward Racing, Ferrari was third and fourth via AF Corse, and Porsche trimmed the gap at the top to just 15 points after the dust settled.
Ferrari making its move on the GT World Challenge global standings
Ferrari has matched Porsche and outscored Mercedes-AMG across the past seven rounds. That run started with a doubleheader on 13 and 14 June when both GT World Challenge Australia and America returned to action simultaneously.
At Queensland Raceway, Will Davison and Renee Gracie won for Ferrari in a result that carried serious historic weight. Gracie became the first female winner of a GT World Challenge race since the global series launched in 2019. That is a big deal and it deserves to be said loud.
Over in America at Road Atlanta, Mercedes-AMG was dominant. JMF Motorsports took a one-two finish with the Pro-Am pairing of Jason Daskalos and Philip Ellis leading the way. Ellis passed fellow factory driver Mikael Grenier with less than 20 minutes to go to seal the result.
Archangel Motorsports completed the podium with its McLaren. Porsche’s best was P4, which allowed AMG to open up an 89-point gap in the GT World Challenge global standings after that doubleheader weekend.
Then came Fuji in mid-July for the third GT World Challenge Asia event. Ferrari took Race 1 with Liu Kaishun and David Chen Weian for Harmony Racing, leading home a Ferrari one-two. Race 2 went to Porsche’s Origine entry, with championship runner-up Lu Wei joined by factory ace Laurin Heinrich to take the win.
Phantom Global made it a Porsche one-two in that race, while Team KRC gave BMW its first Asian podium of the season in third. Ferrari edged Porsche by a single point at Fuji. Mercedes-AMG scored just four points from Japan. Porsche jumped ahead by 45 points. Fifth lead change of the season. Told you it was wild.
Audi steals the show at Darwin and Misano shakes up the GT World Challenge global standings
Misano went to Team WRT, who swept the weekend with Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde. That should surprise nobody. WRT owns that circuit, whether they are running an Audi R8 or a BMW M4. Mercedes-AMG picked up a couple of P3 finishes and a Race 2 runner-up through Verstappen Racing and Winward. Porsche failed to score in Race 2 for the first time since Phillip Island, which let AMG claw the gap back to 25 points.
Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway then delivered one of those chaotic sprint weekends that remind you why you love touring GT racing. Team BRM’s Mark Rosser dodged the opening lap carnage and handed over to Alex Peroni to win Race 1.
Race 2 was clean Audi dominance as Brad Schumacher and Broc Feeney of Kelso Electrical Team MPC took the win, with Wolfbrook Motorsport Team BRM second and Zagame Autosport claiming Ferrari’s first Australian podium of the season. Audi banked 80 points for the weekend, matching the biggest sprint haul of the season. AMG cut Porsche’s lead to 19 heading into Magny-Cours.
After the latest round of scoring, the GT World Challenge global standings have AMG leading Porsche by 29 points, with Ferrari 95 adrift but clearly in form. BMW holds fourth, but Audi is closing after a string of strong weekends. McLaren, Aston Martin, Lamborghini (who took their first-ever GT World Challenge podium at Magny-Cours with Rutronik Racing), Ford and Chevrolet round out the table.
There is a three-week break before everything kicks off again on 29 and 30 August with a triple-header across Okayama, Road America and the Nürburgring. Asia, America and Europe all on the same weekend. The GT World Challenge global standings could look completely different by Sunday night. Do not look away.
