Kylian Drumont has won the second round of the 2025 Gran Turismo World Series Manufacturers Cup for Subaru.
A lot of the work was completed for the French driver in qualifying around the Nürburgring 24-hour layout, incorporating the Nordschleife.
During the in-person event held in Berlin on Gran Turismo 7, the 2022 champion secured pole position at the end of qualifying, just ahead of BMW’s Thomas Labouteley.
In the end, it would be these two drivers from the same nation who would contend for the win, in a six-lap race where three (soft, medium and hard) tyre compounds must be used.
As the race began, Drumont and Labouteley were the only two drivers on soft tyres, and apart from down the Döttinger Höhe straight, on a circuit that is notoriously difficult to overtake around. They made a break from the traffic behind.
Labouteley looked like he was patently shadowing the BRZ’s every move in the early stages. Both pitted after just one lap, swapping to medium compound Dunlop tyres – the brand making its debut as a Gran Turismo partner. They exited in clear air.
That was until they reached the hard-tyre-shod McLaren of Jay Murphy, with the BMW finding it harder to get by than the Subaru, creating a gap between the net leaders. They would both then mirror each other’s pitstops halfway through the race, swapping mediums for hards.
This time, they reentered the race with more traffic to navigate, with Naif Alfaleh’s Lamborghini and Murphy once again holding position but on worn rubber. Drumont tried to aggressively move by the Huracán at Wehrseifen. They lost time, making contact, before Alfaleh moved aside.
From there, as darkness descended, Drumont controlled the race to win ahead of Labouteley for a one-two finish, aping the starting grid’s front row.
Nissan’s Sedziak excels
Behind, the jostle for third place was the race’s main focus, with Porsche’s Jose Serrano eking out a gap to AMG’s Lucas Bonelli, Mazda’s Pol Urra and Honda’s Valerio Gallo. The trio would swap positions and try alternate strategies, which all ultimately wasted time.
On the final lap, with Gallo stuck with hard tyres for the final stint, and Bonelli trying robust overtaking manoeuvres, it looked as if it was down to Serrano and Urra.
However, down the long straight for the final time, Nissan’s Mikołaj Sedziak used the slipstream to appear in contention. He first towed by the Porsche, and capitalised on the Mazda missing the apex at the final corner to steal a podium finish on his World Series debut.
The results meant the second Subaru-BMW top-two finish in the first two rounds, matching the London round’s results.
Gran Turismo World Series 2025, Manufacturers Cup, Round 2 Berlin, results
- Subaru – Kylian Drumont – 6 points
- BMW – Thomas Labouteley – 5 points
- Nissan – Mikołaj Sedziak – 4 points
- Porsche –Jose Serrano – 3 points
- Mazda – Pol Urra – 2 points
- AMG – Lucas Bonelli – 1 point
- Ferrari – João Jesus
- Honda – Valerio Gallo
- Toyota – Kaj de Bruin
- McLaren – Jay Murphy
- Lexus – Giorgio Mangano
- Lamborghini – Naif Alfaleh
Gran Turismo World Series 2025, Manufacturers Cup standings after Round 2
- Subaru – 12 pts
- BMW – 10 pts
- Nissan – 6 pts
- Mazda – 6 pts
- Porsche – 3 pts
- Toyota – 3 pts
- AMG – 1 pts
- McLaren – 1 pts
- Lexus – 0 pts
- Lamborghini – 0 pts
- Honda – 0 pts
- Ferrari – 0 pts
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