Kronberg/Blickle win the AM class, Gabbay/Horrell twice on the Pro-Am podium – seven thousandths of a second decide Sunday’s race
Ofterdingen, 21 September 2026 – W&S Motorsport contested the penultimate round of the GT4 European Series at Circuit Zandvoort with four Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS. The weekend ended with a class win in the AM category and two podium finishes in Pro-Am. For one car, however, nothing went to plan from the outset.
Qualifying – Fastest in AM, Gearbox Failure for the #32
Saturday morning’s first qualifying session was all about changing conditions: an approaching rain shower and a red flag meant only one fast lap counted – anyone who had not banked it before the weather turned got no second chance. Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle took second in the AM class in the #30. In Pro-Am, Edvin Hellsten and Daniel Nilsson placed fifth in the #27 run by Nova Racing, with Alon Gabbay and Tim Horrell eighth in the #31. W&S Motorsport and the Swedish Nova Racing squad have been contesting the season together for several years.
For Joachim Bölting and Hendrik Still the session ended without a classified lap time in the #32: a gearbox failure brought their run to an early end. All the more painful because Still had set the fastest time of the entire field in second free practice the day before – he was denied the chance to confirm that performance.
The team improved markedly in the second session. Kronberg and Blickle secured the AM class benchmark with a 1:44.322 and with it the best starting position for Sunday. Gabbay and Horrell moved up to fourth in Pro-Am in the #31, with Hellsten and Nilsson just 0.065 seconds behind in fifth.
Race 1 – Podium for the #31
In Saturday evening’s first race, Gabbay and Horrell worked the #31 up to third in the Pro-Am class, 17th overall. Hellsten and Nilsson finished fourth in class in the #27. The pair had already been in a podium position but lost it again when a time penalty issued against a rival was subsequently withdrawn.
That the #32 started at all was down to the crew: between sessions the team changed the gearbox and had the car on the grid on time. Still and Bölting then produced the charge of the day: starting from the very back, the Porsche fought its way through half the field to finish fifth in Pro-Am.
For Kronberg and Blickle a promising race ended with an incident. The #30 was caught up in a collision but remained driveable. A brief repair stop in the pits cost time, however, leaving the pair chasing the field for the rest of the race and finishing second in the AM class.
Race 2 – Photo Finish for Second
Sunday’s race produced the strongest showing of the weekend. Over the full distance the #27 and the #31 fought an in-team duel for second in Pro-Am that was settled only on the finish line: seven thousandths of a second separated Hellsten and Nilsson in second from Gabbay and Horrell in third – tenth and eleventh overall.
Kronberg and Blickle lost positions at the start but escaped without major damage and then set a strong pace. The official final classification lists the #30 as winner of the AM class. Both the #30 and the #32 picked up a 28-second time penalty during the race in place of a drive-through. That left Still and Bölting eighth in Pro-Am.
Championship – Title Decider at Portimão
Sunday’s result has extended W&S Motorsport’s lead in the AM standings, and the team goes into the season finale on top of the table. The title can be settled there – and with it another championship in a series in which the team has finished at the top of almost every classification since entering.
Results – Race 1
#27 (Hellsten/Nilsson) – P4 Pro-Am, P18 overall
#30 (Kronberg/Blickle) – P2 AM, P30 overall
#31 (Gabbay/Horrell) – P3 Pro-Am, P17 overall
#32 (Bölting/Still) – P5 Pro-Am, P20 overall
Results – Race 2
#27 (Hellsten/Nilsson) – P2 Pro-Am, P10 overall
#30 (Kronberg/Blickle) – P1 AM, P20 overall
#31 (Gabbay/Horrell) – P3 Pro-Am, P11 overall
#32 (Bölting/Still) – P8 Pro-Am, P23 overall
Quotes from the Weekend
Daniel Blickle (#30): “A solid weekend overall, even if we did not have a great deal of luck. On Saturday there was an unfortunate collision – thankfully the car stayed driveable, we could carry on and take points. Today we were unlucky at the start, after that the pace was very strong and we moved nicely forward again. Without that incident at the beginning a few more positions would have been on. Now we are looking forward to Portimão and hope we can settle the championship.”
Tim Horrell (#31): “We had really good pace today. I handed the car over to my team-mate in second place in class. Right at the end we were unlucky: we were battling a car that was not even running in our class, and in the end it was a wafer-thin third place. Thanks to the team and to everyone who was there – we will be back on the attack at Portimão.”
Edvin Hellsten (#27): “We thought we would take two trophies home from this weekend – we lost the first one again because a penalty against a rival was withdrawn. That made us fourth in race one, and in race two it was second place. We were very happy with the pace all weekend, Daniel did a really good job and the team put a strong car out there. Now we are looking forward to the finale at Portimão.”
Hendrik Still (#32): “A difficult weekend for us at Zandvoort. There were already small technical issues in the first practice session that cost us time. Then we were unlucky with a gearbox failure in qualifying – without a lap time we had to start both races from the very back. Race one was not bad, we came through half the field. The second race was unlucky again: hard battles and a lot of time lost. We are putting Zandvoort behind us and looking ahead to the season finale.”
Team principal Daniel Schellhaas: “A great race on Sunday and another step up in Pro-Am compared with Saturday. The #31 put in a strong performance, ran second for a long time and only lost the position to its sister car in a photo finish in the final corner. That makes me all the happier that both crews were able to celebrate again after the podium in race one. For the #32 the whole weekend unfortunately did not go as planned. Now we head to the finale at Portimão, where we hope to settle the AM championship in our favour.”
Next round: Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão – 16 to 18 October 2026
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