The battle for the overall Endurance Cup drivers' title in the SRO GT World Challenge Europe looked very different before the weekend got underway, with crews representing Dinamic Motorsport (Porsche) and AKKA ASP (Mercedes-AMG) level at the top of the standings.

Qualifying told another story as SMP Racing and AF Corse locked out the front row of the grid for Ferrari. It was the number 51 AF Corse machine that got the jump at the start in the hands of Blomqvist, putting co-driver Pier Guidi in position to capture the title.

But the Ferrari challenge appeared to have faded during the opening hour as the number 163 Emil Frey Lamborghini charged to the front in the hands of Giacomo Altoè. Both the AF Corse and SMP machines slipped back further as the number 12 GPX Racing Porsche moved to the head of the field during the second hour, handing the Dubai-based squad the upper hand in the title battle.

As the race progressed it looked increasingly likely that GPX would be celebrating as the Porsche pulled out a gap of more than 14 seconds at the head of the field, while the AF Corse Ferrari fell to the lower half of the top-10. The number 51 machine would need to return to the lead to capture the title, a scenario that looked unlikely at this stage of the race.

But their challenge was by no means over. Ledogar took the controls at the two-hour mark and began to make progress towards the front, climbing to third spot by half-distance and then cutting the gap to the second-place number 63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini.

The number 51 Ferrari moved into P2 during the fourth round of stops, releasing Pier Guidi to chase down Mathieu Jaminet in the leading GPX Porsche. The experienced Italian applied significant pressure, cutting a lead that had been as much as 12 seconds down to seven. The race had come alive, but the final twist was still to come.

The GPX Porsche stopped for the final time with 45 minutes left on the clock, while the AF Corse Ferrari ran longer. Indeed, the Italian squad was one of the very last to make its deciding stop and, crucially, changed only two tyres on the number 51 machine.

It was enough to give Pier Guidi the narrowest of leads over Jaminet, but the decision was a gamble, with the Ferrari needing to hold off a Porsche running with a full complement of fresh Pirelli tyres. In a championship contested over 39 hours, the outcome went down to the final stint of the deciding race.

Jaminet had one clear shot at the lead with 30 minutes on the clock but could not get fully alongside the Ferrari and lost crucial time. Thereafter Pier Guidi was able to maintain a small gap all the way chequered flag, ultimately winning the race by just 1.6 seconds. Having looked to be out of the fight at one-third distance, Ferrari could now celebrate its maiden overall title.

The podium was completed by last year's Endurance Cup champion, with the number 63 Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini taking third to end the season on a high. A pair of Belgian Audi Club Team WRT cars completed the top-five as the number 32 machine came home ahead of the number 31.

This was to prove significant as the Belgian squad clinched the combined GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS teams' championship for the first time since 2015, beating rival outfit AKKA ASP after the number 88 Mercedes-AMG suffered damage and slipped out of the points.

Nevertheless, AKKA ASP's Timur Boguslavskiy captured the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS drivers' championship for 2020, becoming the youngest person to take the accolade at just 20 years of age.