• Mercedes-AMG leads Porsche by just six points, Ferrari also within striking distance
• Everything to play for across four title-deciding weekends
• GT World Challenge global standings
Three brands are in serious contention for this year’s GT World Challenge powered by AWS title with Mercedes-AMG narrowly leading Porsche, and Ferrari rapidly closing on both.
Each of the four continental series has been in action at least once during the past six weeks, and all now have just one round remaining before 2026 is complete. The destination of the title remains entirely unclear, with the German marques closer than ever and their Italian rival enjoying a rich vein of form.
After a three-week break the season resumed with a bang. Indeed, the weekend of 29/30 August represented the only triple-header of the year, with GT World Challenge events taking place in Asia, Europe and America.
The Audi R8 is a bona fide legend of GT3 racing and it shows no signs of fading quietly into retirement. Case in point: a clean sweep of victories for Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom at Okayama, which hosted the fourth round of the GT World Challenge Asia campaign.
Chinese duo Yu Kuai and Cheng Congfu claimed a second overall win of the season in Race 1, seizing upon a failed tyre gamble by Absolute Racing, which switched to wets in changing conditions. 5ZIGEN’s Nissan was second – a first podium of 2026 for GT World Challenge's only non-scoring brand – ahead of KRC's BMW.
Phantom then made it a clean sweep in Race 2. This time it was the sister R8 of Jaxon Evans and Andrés Pato that prevailed, the latter beating championship leader Lu Wei’s Origine Motorsport Porsche to the flag by just 0.089s. Team KRC was third again in Race 2 with the sister M4 of Lee/Oosten matching what Ruan/Verhagen achieved on Saturday.
A few hours after Pato and Lu’s photo finish, GT World Challenge Europe was at the Nürburgring for a three-hour Endurance Cup race. Aston Martin took its second global win of the year, and once again it was Comtoyou Racing that secured the result.
After a smash-and-grab victory at Paul Ricard, this was a display of dominance from the Belgian squad and its factory trio of Nicki Thiim, Marco Sørensen and Mattia Drudi. Team WRT was second with its BMW, while Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing came home third to secure a first Endurance Cup podium – and put more points in AMG's column.
GT World Challenge America completed the busiest weekend of the year with Road America hosting its fifth event of 2026. Robby Foley and Justin Rothberg secured their second win of the season in Turner Motorsport's BMW, defeating Mercedes-AMG squads JMF and TR3 at the iconic Wisconsin road course. In championship terms this was a good weekend for AMG, which stretched its lead to 52 points.
The next GT World Challenge action was on 19/20 September with events in Australia and the Netherlands. The former saw Kollosche AMG by Tigani Motorsport’s Oscar Targett and Shane Smollen give Mercedes its eighth global win of 2026. Targett – who is firmly on course to earn a spot at next year's 24 Hours of Spa through the SRO GT Academy – also claimed his maiden series victory.
Race 2 went to Audi – the R8's eighth of the season – thanks to the Kelso Electrical Melbourne Performance Centre entry. Brad Schumacher grabbed the lead after a safety car restart and controlled proceedings thereafter. This result edged the MPC duo of Schumacher and Broc Feeney ahead in their bid to secure back-to-back GT World Challenge Australia titles.
Zandvoort saw an upset to the established order in GT World Challenge Europe, with both Garage 59 and Emil Frey Racing scoring their first overall wins of the season. The former secured a breakthrough victory for McLaren, with Tom Fleming and Louis Prette edging the Boutsen VDS Porsche
Emil Frey's Ferrari was third, which provided the impetus for even bigger things in Race 2. Ben Green and Thierry Vermeulen triumphed in the Swiss squad's 296 after Green made an incisive pass on the sister car of Konsta Lappalainen. Lionspeed GP ultimately split the Ferrari duo, taking an important step towards the Sprint Cup title in the process.
Ferrari was the best-scoring brand at Zandvoort, maintaining its excellent form over the second half of the campaign. The Dutch round was not especially good for Mercedes-AMG, though the German brand nevertheless completed the weekend with an advantage of 59 points over Porsche.
On 26/27 September GT World Challenge America staged its penultimate round at Barber Motorsports Park. Matías Pérez Companc and Frederik Schandorff triumphed in the three-hour race, the AF Corse Ferrari duo defeating JMF Motorsports' Mercedes-AMG and the Archangel Motorsport McLaren. This was the Italian marque's first outright win in the U.S. series since 2023, while AF Corse became the first team this season to win on two continents following its European triumph at Brands Hatch.
One week later, Asia and Europe were both in action. Ferrari made it three in a row thanks to Harmony Racing's victory in the opening contest on the streets of Beijing. Liu Kaishun and series debutant Takuro Shinohara converted pole position into a straightforward victory, with 5ZIGEN’s Nissan second and Absolute Racing's Lamborghini claiming third.
The sister Absolute entry caught fire during Friday evening’s Bronze Test, giving the team a sleepless night building up a brand-new 911. Alessandro Ghiretti rewarded them with pole position, while Huang Ruohan made a decisive pass that secured Race 2 victory. After penalties were applied the other podium spots were filled by an Origine Porsche and Phantom’s Audi R8. As is so often the case, the Weissach marque took a big haul of points from the Asian contest, while Ferrari also scored well in Beijing.
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya played host to the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe campaign and the series’ deciding Sprint Cup contest. Race 1 played out in heavy rain and saw Tresor Attempto Racing secure yet another overall win for the Audi R8 thanks to Alex Aka and Dylan Pereira. They beat the Lionspeed Porsche of Ricardo Feller and Bastian Buus – who wrapped up the Sprint title – and the rapidly improving Lamborghini Temerario from Rutronik Racing.
Barcelona’s second contest guaranteed that this will be a three-way fight for the global GT World Challenge title. Ferrari scored its first-ever Sprint Cup one-two with the Emil Frey Racing crew of Green/Vermeulen, who led home AF Corse’s 296 and one of Tresor Attempto’s fleet of Audis. With the best Mercedes-AMG in P5 and no Porsches among the scorers, the top three are closer than ever.
AMG leads by just six points, while Ferrari has stormed into contention with a 79-point deficit to the top. BMW sits narrowly ahead of Audi in fourth and fifth respectively, followed by McLaren, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ford and Chevrolet.
Four rounds – one on each continent – will settle the 2026 season. GT World Challenge America concludes this weekend (10/11 October) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which forms part of Intercontinental GT Challenge's Indy 8 Hour. Europe wraps up with a three-hour race at Portimão on 17/18 October when Max Verstappen will be among the drivers looking to earn points for AMG.
Asia concludes at Shanghai International Circuit on 31 October/1 November, while GT World Challenge Australia will host a title showdown on the streets of Adelaide on 5/6 December. It’s all to play for as three of the world’s biggest brands contend for GT World Challenge glory.
