Verstappen Racing falls short of Magny-Cours double

The historic Magny-Cours circuit hosted the sixth round of the GT World Challenge Europe this weekend, where the pairing of Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon finally secured the first victory of the season for Max Verstappen's team. It came after several near misses throughout the campaign, including a strong challenge for victory in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.

Juncadella took the start in Race 2 from seventh on the grid, but immediately dropped two positions after running wide through the opening corners. From there, the Spaniard was unable to find the pace needed to begin a recovery through the field.

A heavy collision between the #74 and #87 cars brought out the red flag around the halfway point of the race. The Ferrari-run Kessel Racing entry slammed heavily into the barriers, forcing race officials to suspend the action for an extended period while repairs to the damaged barrier were carried out before the race could resume.

After the restart, Gounon found himself back in 14th place. The Frenchman gradually worked his way through the field and crossed the finish line in 10th. However, the final classification changed after post-race penalties for Tommaso Mosca (AF Corse) and Alessio Picariello (Boutsen VDS), which promoted the Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 to eighth place.

Victory went to Bastian Buus for Lionspeed GP for Porsche, with Matisse Lismont finishing second for Team WRT. Luca Engstler completed the podium in third for Rutronik Racing.