GT World Challenge powered by AWS will be at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours this weekend for the third Sprint Cup event of the season. The French track has staged a total of 11 races since its first appearence on the calendar, giving us more than enough to select five of the best.
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5
2011 Endurance – Way Back When
Magny-Cours is best known as a Sprint Cup event, which it has been since returning to the calendar in 2020. But its first appearance on the GT World Challenge schedule came almost a decade earlier, in 2011, when it staged a three-hour Endurance Cup contest.
This was the fourth round of what was then known as the Blancpain Endurance Series. A 35-car gird tackled the race, which was won by the Marc VDS squad with its BMW Z4. There is a wonderful moment during the coverage when Marc van der Straten is seen trackside taking photos of his own cars. The legendary team boss, who passed away in July 2026, was nothing if not a motor racing fanatic.
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4
2022 (Race 1) – Déjà Vu
A blistering opening stint from Raffaele Marciello and a composed finish from Timur Boguslavskiy. Where have we heard that before? Ah yes, it's what we say at some point in every Top 5 from a Sprint Cup round.
During their spell as teammates at Akkodis ASP, it became almost inevitable that Lello and Timur would put on just such a performance. On this occasion Marciello set a new qualifying lap record to take pole and then disappeared into the distance, adding the race lap record to his list of conquests. Both stand to this day.
Boguslavskiy faced no pressure and cruised home to win by more than 13 seconds. With the sister car of Jim Pla and Maximilian Götz taking runner-up, it was a perfect home race for the Akkodis ASP squad.
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3
2024 (Race 2) – Luggi Monster
Lucas Auer might seem like a nice guy. In fact, Lucas Auer is a nice guy. But put him behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 and he can be a real terror.
A perfect example of this came at Magny-Cours in 2024. After taking over from Maro Engel, the Austrian found himself running second to fellow AMG driver Maximilian Götz. Auer snatched the lead after some serious door-banging – no team orders here – but then had to contend with title rival Dries Vanthoor.
The chasing BMW probably had fractionally more speed than the AMG, but Auer managed the remainder of the race with a perfect mix of aggression and intelligence to secure victory. This trimmed the gap at the top of the standings to just two points, setting up a title showdown that Auer and Engel would ultimately win.
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2
2020 (Race 2) – Simon En Pleine Forme
Simon Gachet has driven countless laps at Magny-Cours, but the most important came during qualifying in 2020. The French driver – then competing in the Silver Cup class – scored outright pole with a brilliant lap of the Nevers circuit, where grid position is absolutely crucial.
Nevertheless, this did not guarantee victory. Many still expected his Saintéloc Audi to fade over the full race distance, collect the Silver win, and perhaps settle for an overall podium. But to this, Gachet and his teammate Steven Palette gave a very clear "non".
Following an early safety car period Gachet broke clear of Raffaele Marciello – no mean feat in itself – handing over to Palette with a handy advantage. The Audi was untroubled during the second stint as Mercedes-AMG drivers Timur Boguslavskiy and Luca Stolz squabbled over second spot.
With the victory going to two French drivers and a French team, it could hardly have been a more popular result. Though they'd won from pole, this still ranks as the most surprising winner at Magny-Cours.
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1
2025 (Race 2) – Nothing To Choose
When we say that 0.156 seconds separated first and second, you might think we're talking about qualifying. In fact, in Race 2 of the 2025 event, this was all that separated the winner from the runner-up at the chequered flag.
For technical reasons, we can't call it the closest-ever Sprint finish: at Barcelona in 2021, 0.107s separated first from second. But on that occasion the safety car was on track until the penultimate lap, bunching up the field and effectively creating the close finish.
At Magny-Cours in 2025, there was no safety car; the gap was entirely down to a fight between Benji Goethe in the Garage 59 McLaren and Luca Engstler in the Grasser Racing Lamborghini. Engstler was all over the McLaren, but Goethe soaked up the pressure and didn't give his rival any opportunities to make a pass. They were nose to tail as they crossed the line.