Rutronik Racing concluded the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season in Valencia. The team finished fifth in the championship.

The season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup took place in Valencia, Spain. Rutronik Racing lined up at the gates of the Spanish metropolis with two Porsche 911 GT3 R. Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser, as well as Eshan Pieris and Loek Hartog, drove the two Porsches.

The German team travelled to Spain in confident spirits. Before the race weekend on the world-famous MotoGP circuit, Müller and Niederhauser were in contention for the title in the fiercely competitive international GT3 racing series.

Patric Niederhauser had to start the first race from 19th place on the grid after a difficult qualifying session. Due to a technical problem, the fast Swiss driver only had one lap available, as he had to return to the pits after the outlap, where he managed to limit the damage with a good performance. This put the Porsche in the middle of the starting grid, an area where collisions often occur at the start. Unfortunately, the fears were realised, as the Swiss driver was hit in the chaos at the start in the third corner and had to pit for a tyre change, which dropped him to the back of the field. Together with his partner Sven Müller, he fought his way up to eleventh position before the duo received a 26-second time penalty for an offence under yellow flags, dropping them back to 14th place. Pieris and Hartog finished the race in sixth position in the Silver Cup.

Sven Müller and Loek Hartog put in strong performances in the second qualifying session. In a difficult qualifying session, which had to be interrupted after six of ten minutes, Müller impressed with a fifth place. Hartog also impressed in the Silver Cup car. In tenth place, he was the third fastest car in his class, but was set back five positions on the starting grid because Pieris had received his third behaviour warning point the day before.

Müller started the second race from fifth place. The Porsche 911 GT3 R showed good speed in the race. However, the team lost a few seconds during the pit stop for technical reasons, which prevented a better finish. Patric Niederhauser ultimately finished in fifth place, which was a disappointing result for the team as a podium finish would have been possible given the speed of the car. Pieris and Hartog had their best race of the year in the final race of the season. The fast Dutchman was able to keep the car in the top 10 for much of the first stint, and Eshan Pieris from Sri Lanka also delivered his best performance of the season. In the end, the two drivers finished eleventh in the overall standings and fourth in the Silver Cup.

Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser finished the season in fifth place in the overall standings of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup, while Eshan Pieris, in his first European season, and Loek Hartog took ninth place in the Silver Cup.

In just under three weeks, Rutronik Racing will be battling for further titles in Spain, when the season finale of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup takes place in Barcelona. The Remchingen-based team is still in contention for the title in both the Endurance Cup and the overall GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS standings.

Klaus Graf, Rutronik Racing team principal: "It was a difficult weekend for us. We certainly made a few mistakes over the weekend, which quickly has consequences in this environment, especially when the title is at stake. On the other hand, it has to be said that we've had a very good season so far to put ourselves in this position, so you have to look at it realistically. But of course, we're disappointed as a team. Sunday was okay so far, but we had a problem with the drive-off during the pit stop and Patric had to start the car. We need to analyse that, it's still difficult to understand at the moment. That resulted in fifth place, I think the podium would have been possible. Eshan had a very good weekend, I'm very happy with him. It was by far his best weekend. This shows that when he has tested on a track, he can quickly find his feet and keep up. In the second race, the #97 car put in a top performance: unfortunately, fourth place wasn't quite enough for the podium. That would have been really great and they would have deserved it. Eshan has developed well over the season and many thanks for his trust this year! I think it was a nice way for him to finish. For us as a team, it's now a matter of keeping an eye on the overall standings and the Endurance Cup standings, where we have a good starting position. I think it's going to be a hot fight in Barcelona!"

Patric Niederhauser, Porsche 911 GT3 R #96: "It was a difficult weekend, unfortunately no podium for us. A lot went wrong on Saturday, even though we fought like lions. After the accident, we fought our way up from last place to eleventh, which shows character. But unfortunately, there were no points for that. On Sunday, we had a solid race with a minor problem during the pit stop, which was a shame because otherwise we probably would have been on the podium. Nevertheless, Saturday probably broke our neck for the Sprint Cup championship, but that's how it goes in motorsport. Now we are looking forward to Barcelona, where we still have two championships to win. I'm now looking forward to a two-week break before we head into the grand finale."

Eshan Pieris, Porsche 911 GT3 R #97: "My first season in Europe with Rutronik Racing and Porsche ends with eleventh place in the overall standings and fourth place in my class. The year with Rutronik Racing has been incredible and the collaboration with the team is fantastic. We had a bit of bad luck this weekend, which prevented us from achieving better results, but we still showed what we are capable of. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Rutronik Racing, Porsche and me."