Dani Juncadella is completing a 2022 to remember after reaching the podium in several of the most important GT3 events on the calendar. The Spaniard has also won the 24 Hours of Spa and the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup.
They say, with more or less criteria, that Formula 1 eclipses everything, but that there is also life far from its walls. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz defend the national motorsport in the premier category of motorsport, but far from the ‘Great Circus’ there are drivers who are carrying the Spanish flag to the podium of some of the most emblematic events in motor sports. The best example, Dani Juncadella.
Perhaps it will not monopolize covers and have less repercussion than it deserved, but Catalan Dani Juncadella is having a memorable season, possibly the best of his career and at the height of the great giants of GT vehicle racing. In fact, the track record that the Spanish rider has achieved throughout this 2022 is within the reach of very few riders across the planet.
Dani Juncadella has managed to get on the podium in several emblematic events, he has won the 24 Hours of Spa and the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup
For something Juncadella has the full confidence of Mercedes-AMG and it is one of the referents of its GT3 program, perhaps the most outstanding with the permission of the colossus Raffaele Marciello -with whom he has shared a car recurrently-. And it is not for less seeing his 2022. Dani started the year with a second place finish in the IMSA GTD class at the 12 Hours of Sebringbehind the wheel of the #32 GKM Mercedes that he shared with Stevan McAleer and Mike Skeen.
Then, Juncadella achieved a second place in the 12 Hours of Bathurst with the Mercedes #91 of the Craft Bamboo team, sharing work with Maro Engel and Kevin Tse. Still in the month of May, Dani also climbed to the podium of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring finishing in third position alongside Maro Engel and Jules Gounon, at the controls of the #4 GetSpeed Mercedes.
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24 Hours of Spa and Endurance Cup
A list of successes that has its biggest milestone in victory at the 24 Hours of Spa in July. With suffering and a breakdown that almost separated them from the fight for victory and that could be resolved with some luck, Juncadella and his teammates Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon won the victory in the Belgian endurance classic, the queen of the GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Triumph that, together with the podium achieved in the 1,000 km of Paul Ricard, has allowed Dani, Raffaele and Jules win the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup, the world’s most prestigious GT3 car endurance championship. A contest in which he has also climbed to the podium in Imola, as it has also done in the ADAC GT Masters to help Raffaele Marciello in his fight for the title.
There is still more!
Winning the GTWC Europe Endurance Cup could be the finishing touch to a masterful season, but Dani Juncadella still has challenges ahead. From the victory in the 24 Hours of Spa comes the candidacy for another title, since Juncadella will compete to win the Intercontinental GT Challenge. He will do it in a separate Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Jules Gounon, so he could be a solo champion.
for now, Dani will be in the 8 Hours of Indianapolis and if he achieves a good result in the American event of the IGTC, the Spaniard will also compete in the 12 Hours of Dubai. Although the distribution of drivers made by Mercedes-AMG among its sponsored cars can increase or reduce the Spanish’s title options, Juncadella is going to fight for the title. Whether he succeeds or not, it doesn’t matter, his 2022 is already for framing.
Photos: GT World Challenge Europe