Rutronik Racing put in a strong team performance at the season opener of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch - Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser secured a podium result.

The 2025 season of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup got underway at Brands Hatch. Rutronik Racing entered two Porsche 911 GT3 R cars. The two Porsche contract drivers Sven Müller and Patric Niederhauser drove the team's top car. Loek Hartog and Eshan Pieris drove for the Remchingen-based team in the Silver Cup. Pieris made history when he became the first driver from Sri Lanka to compete in the series.

Qualifying did not go perfectly for the only Porsche racing team in the field. Müller and Niederhauser qualified for the two races in tenth and eighth positions. Not an ideal starting position on the circuit in the county of Kent, where overtaking with GT3 cars is not easy, but nevertheless a promising starting position for the races. The Silver Cup car also qualified in promising positions for the races.

Both cars got off to a perfect start in the first race - Sven Müller was able to make up two positions on the starting lap, Loek Hartog six positions. The Dutchman was thus able to take the lead in the Silver Cup. The two Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R cars were running in parallel for most of the first stint. The team was able to secure or improve their positions with quick pit stops. Patric Niederhauser saw the chequered flag in sixth place, while Eshan Pieris was waved off in tenth.

However, both cars received 5-second time penalties after the race, dropping them to ninth and 15th place respectively. Particularly bitter: Eshan Pieris and Loek Hartog thus lost their Silver Cup victory and were only classified in fourth place in the class. Müller and Niederhauser's car drove into the pit lane at 0.1 km/h too fast - a dubious penalty against the Porsche racing team. Due to a chain of unfortunate circumstances, the team made a pit stop error on the Silver Cup car, as a result of which the car was penalised.

In the second race, starting driver Niederhauser and Sven Müller stormed onto the podium from eighth on the grid. With a flawless performance, a good strategy and a quick pit stop, the two experienced Porsche drivers were initially able to move up to fourth place. On the penultimate lap, the competitor in third place made a small mistake, allowing Müller to slip through and secure the podium result. On the traditional circuit, where overtaking with GT3 cars is very difficult, this was a remarkable chase to catch up!

For the Silver Cup car, the end came even before the pit stop window. After a McLaren shot him down in the Hawthorns area, Eshan Pieris had to finish the race in the gravel.

The GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup will continue in just two weeks' time. The second race weekend will be held in Zandvoort in the Netherlands. The GP circuit is located directly in the dunes not far from the Dutch North Sea coast.

Klaus Graf, Team Principal Rutronik Racing: ‘We scored well and to finish the weekend with a podium makes us very happy. I think we proved once again that we have the pace. Our performance in qualifying wasn't quite optimal, we need to analyse that again, perhaps the track didn't quite suit the Porsche. In the races, however, we showed a very good performance, which we were able to emphasise with the podium for the #96. It wouldn't have been enough to win this weekend, but we scored good points, which is very important in this series in the fight for the championship. In the 97th race, we were penalised in the first race due to a pit stop error caused by a chain of circumstances during the race and lost the Silver Cup victory. Nevertheless, we achieved a good result with fourth place. Eshan in particular had a steep learning curve over the weekend, which was very difficult with the short track time. That was really good of him, and Loek was a really strong team-mate for him over the weekend.’

Patric Niederhauser, driver Porsche 911 GT3 R #96: ‘It was great to drive at Brands Hatch again! Basically, it wasn't an easy weekend for us, but it ended on a very positive note. I think we did almost everything right, the penalty was very frustrating as it was unjustified in the end. Otherwise, we can be proud of both races! They were two great races. The whole team did a great job. However, we need to work a bit on our qualifying performance because neither the car was perfect, nor did Sven and I have a perfect lap to start from the front. It was nice to finish the weekend on the podium.’

Eshan Pieris, driver Porsche 911 GT3 R #97: ‘There were a lot of firsts for me this weekend - my first race in Europe, a new team and a new track, and it was a rollercoaster ride in many ways. We won the first race in the Silver Cup, but got a penalty after the race, and a contact in the second race ended our race prematurely. That's the sport, but the team and I showed great potential, which motivates us for the next race. Many thanks to Rutronik Racing for this opportunity.’