Grasser Racing is 60 minutes away from securing an incredible Sprint Cup title after Jordan Pepper scored the ROWE Pole Position Award ahead of this afternoon's season-deciding race at Circuit Ricardo Tormo Valencia. If he and Luca Engstler can convert this into victory, they will be champions.
The South African driver delivered under immense pressure to put the #63 Lamborghini on top in the split qualifying session. He posted a 1m31.115s on his second push lap after a late red flag, which left just three minutes for drivers to set a time. He beat Aurélien Panis, who was a surprise P2 overall in the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG. The Frenchman also led the Silver Cup order.
Marvin Kirchhöfer qualified P3 overall in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren and will share the second row with the #32 Team WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde. Both are still firmly in the title fight; however, they must get ahead of the #63 Lamborghini to be crowned champions this afternoon.
The #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche qualified fifth thanks to Sven Müller, though the German squad will require a significant swing to snatch the title. They are, however, well placed to score points towards the full-season GT World Challenge standings.
While four of the title protagonists are among the top five on the grid, the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG endured a disastrous session, with Maro Engel qualifying 16th overall. The defending champions head into finale level with Team WRT at the top of the table, but must make enormous progress to retain their crown.
Gold Cup pole went to the #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Louis Prette, who is now just 3.5 points behind the table-topping #69 Emil Frey Racing crew. The McLaren will start seventh overall, two places ahead of the Ferrari.
Outgoing class champion Darren Leung (#991 Paradine Competition BMW) scored Bronze Cup pole, edging the man likely to succeed him – Dustin Blattner – by just 0.037s. The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari is well placed to take the crown, with Blattner starting four spots ahead of his only remaining rival: Bashar Mardini in the #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche.
The closing Sprint Cup race of 2025 gets underway this afternoon at 14:45. Live coverage will be broadcast on the GT World YouTube channel.