+ 38-car field heads to the Adriatic coast for rounds seven and eight
+ Consani and Lariche hold the advantage in Silver
+ Can anybody catch runaway Pro-Am leaders Still and Bölting?
+ Nothing to separate Chazel and W&S in the Am class race
+ Provisional entry list, Misano
The GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club will kick-start the second half of its 2025 season with a return to the Italian seaside circuit of Misano next weekend (July 18-20).
Just weeks since the series played a starring role in support of the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, the GT4 Europe field will get straight back into action at the 4.2km Misano World Circuit. The venue has a strong history with the category having hosted the first round of the revamped GT4 European Series back in 2017 and been a regular on the calendar since.
A 38-car entry will duke it out across two one-hour races, with the contest being held in support of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, which itself boasts a record 44-car field for the third Sprint Cup event of the season. Add in the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, and fans can expect a packed weekend of world-class GT competition.
SILVER: TEAM SPEEDCAR SETS THE PACE
Their winning streak may have come to an end at Spa, but two determined drives meant Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche still managed to extend their Silver points lead.
The #3 Team Speedcar Audi struggled in mixed-conditions qualifying in Belgium, but in the dry races Consani and Lariche battled to two podium finishes to stretch their lead as their rivals struggled. They had previously won one race at every GT4 Europe event back to Monza last year but will now have to be happy with a run of five podium finishes from six races this season, which has given them a 40-point cushion.
Marco Signoretti and Erik Evans would surely have been closer had their Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang not been eliminated from the first Spa race in a multi-car tangle. Twice winners already this year, the pair will be determined to fight back.
Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW drivers Gabriele Piana and Berkay Besler made great strides in the points with their first win of the year last time out, passing Matmut Évolution Toyota pair Hadrien David and Jan Duran for third in the standings as just eight points separate second from fourth.
Also watch for Benjamin Lessennes/Ricardo van der Ende (L’Espace Bienvenue BMW) and Lluc Ibañez/Alexandre Papadopulous (NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG) who shared the Misano wins last year, plus Spa race winners Gregory Guilvert and Paul Petit, who are back in a refreshed Team Speedcar Audi.
PRO-AM: STILL BÖLTING CLEAR AT THE FRONT
With four wins from the six races so far, Hendrik Still and Joachim Bölting are proving a force in the Pro-Am class. The W&S Motorsport Porsche drivers are 59 points clear after a win and a podium at Spa, with Still proving his star quality by qualifying the #32 Cayman inside the top three overall at every event so far.
Lotus PB Racing showed it has the potential to reel in the runaway Porsche though, with Alberto Naska and Stefano D’Aste (above) claiming their first victory at Spa. They could have been much closer had an electrical problem not taken their Emira out of race one. They will be aiming high on home turf.
Things are incredibly tight elsewhere, with just a single point separating the Lotus from Schubert Motorsport’s BMW shared by Joakim Walde/Victor Bouveng, and the Mirage Racing Aston Martin of Stanislav Safronov/Aleksandr Vaintrub a further point behind in fourth.
AM: TIGHT AT THE TOP BETWEEN CHAZEL AND W&S
This year’s Am class fight is the perfect example of how comfortable championship leads can vanish in a single weekend. Ahead of Spa, Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn were 36 points up on closest rivals Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle, but after a dramatic last round now only a single point separates the two.
A clean sweep of wins in Belgium for the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche, allied to a costly retirement for the #317 Chazel Technologie Course BMW, has put the two crews neck-and-neck for the class lead heading into the second half of the campaign.
Igor Sorokin and Keith Gatehouse (NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG) are not out of the picture, and neither are Stefan Nilsson/Mats Olsson (Schubert Motorsport BMW) and Mikael/Christoffer Brunnhagen (Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden) with just four points separating third from fifth in the standings.
The GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club weekend at Misano World Circuit gets underway with testing on Thursday, July 17, ahead of Free Practice (09:00) and Pre-Qualifying (15:30) on Friday. Qualifying (09:00) and Race 1 (14:00) follow on Saturday before Race 2 at midday on Sunday (12:00). All sessions will feature live timing on the official website, with both races streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.
