Golden Finish: Emil Frey Racing wins 2025 Gold Cup Title

📌 Fast Facts 📌 
Emil Frey Racing experienced a turbulent season finale in Valencia. On Saturday, Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham (#69) initially secured a historic victory, but this was subsequently revoked after they received a time penalty for violating yellow flag rules. The #14 car also fell back in the rankings. On Sunday, the #14 retired early with suspension damage, while the #69 took ninth place overall and won the Gold Cup championship. This also secured Emil Frey Racing the Gold Cup title in the team classification.

Emil Frey Racing loses Saturday race victory 
A bitter turn of events for Emil Frey Racing on Saturday evening: after Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham's historic race victory, the team lost its triumph in the first race of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup in Valencia. A good hour after announcing other penalties, the stewards announced that the Ferrari with start number #69 would also receive a time penalty.

This was triggered by Chris Lulham's personal best time under yellow flags – a clear violation of the rules resulting in a 26-second penalty, which corresponded to a drive-through penalty. As a result, the #69 car was relegated to fourth place. 

The race on Saturday
First of all, Thierry Vermeulen and Chris Lulham made history: starting from ninth on the grid, the duo in the number 69 Ferrari 296 GT3 fought their way to the front with confidence and crossed the finishing line in first place, becoming the first Gold Cup team ever in the history of the series to do so. 

There was a mass accident in turn two on the opening lap, which brought out the Safety Car as several cars went off the track in multiple corners. The number 14 car, with Konsta Lappalainen at the wheel, managed to avoid any contact and stayed on course at the front. After the one-hour race, teammate Ben Green crossed the finish line in a solid ninth place – but the second Emil Frey Racing Ferrari was also penalized and relegated to 12th place. 

Season finale on Sunday: Drama from start to finish
For car number 14, the final was over after just a few corners: Damage to the right rear suspension after a collision meant the immediate retirement for Ben Green and Konsta Lappalainen – a bitter end to what had already been a difficult season.

Things went better for the sister car with the number 69. Starting from seventh place, Chris Lulham immediately set off in pursuit of his direct Gold Cup rival in the #58 McLaren. After Saturday's setback, every point counted, and the young Brit put the pressure on early.

The turning point came during the pitstop when the #58 McLaren had to serve a ten-second time penalty. This benefited Emil Frey Racing, who took the lead in the Gold Cup. Thierry Vermeulen drove a solid stint and did not relinquish the lead until the finish line – ninth place in the overall standings and victory in the 2025 Gold Cup were the well-deserved reward. But that was not all – Emil Frey Racing also secured the Gold Cup title in the team standings.

TEAM QUOTE - Emil Frey Racing
Lorenz Frey-Hilti, Team Principal
“Many thanks to the entire team for their hard work, which paid off today with overall victory in the Gold Cup standings. Of course, we always keep an eye on the overall standings, but unfortunately, we weren't in contention this year. We hope that will be the case again in the future.”

Jürg Flach, Technical Director
"The weekend wasn't easy. The results in the first qualifying session fell short of expectations, but the pace, especially of number 69, was extremely strong in the first race – so we were able to cross the finish line first after a strong pitstop performance. The subsequent penalty then resulted in P4, which made it more difficult to win the Gold Cup. With a solid performance from #69 in the second qualifying session and a controlled race, we were able to secure the Gold Cup for the driver and team. Congratulations to everyone and thank you for your tireless efforts!"

DRIVER QUOTES - Emil Frey Racing
Thierry Vermeulen (The Netherlands)
"After yesterday's anger, we woke up this morning with only one goal in mind: to win the title. We gave it our all today. We had a fairly quiet race, but we stayed out of the chaos and ultimately secured the title in the Gold Cup standings. A big thank you goes to the entire Emil Frey Racing team and the support from Verstappen.com Racing. It was a difficult year, but we definitely had our good moments too."

Chris Lulham (Great Britain)
“At the beginning of the year, I could never have imagined how this season would turn out. Today, we have achieved our goal – and I am simply overjoyed. It wasn't an easy journey, but now we have accomplished something that we can celebrate with pride.”

Ben Green (Great Britain)
"First of all, congratulations to Emil Frey Racing, Thierry, and Chris on winning the Gold Cup this season. They deserved the good results, and I am delighted that they were able to clinch the title. Unfortunately, it was a much more difficult weekend for us, with results that don't really reflect the dedication and hard work of the team this season. That's a shame, but ultimately these things happen – especially in what is probably one of the toughest GTWC seasons in recent years. We will learn from this and come back stronger!"

Konsta Lappalainen (Finland)
“Today's race pretty much summed up our entire season, because it has been very difficult for us all year. I think the potential was there, but we couldn't exploit it. I would like to thank the team, because we worked well together and I hope that we can be among the frontrunners next year.”