Ultimate Cup Series Paul Ricard – Summary of Saturday’s day

KENNOL GT TOURING-SPRINT

From the start of the day, the competitors in the Kennol GT Touring-Sprint category opened hostilities by participating in their 2 qualifying sessions, defining the starting grids for races 1 and 3 for the 1st session and races 2 and 4 for the second session.

After 30 minutes of effort, the ax fell: we had to pilot a Renault RS01 to sign the best brands. Indeed, Bernard Delhez (AB Sport Auto) set the 2 reference times in quick succession, ahead of the other French driver Marc Waechter (G2 Racing). Maxime Manguy, at the wheel of the Porsche 911 Cup from his own Team, Breizh Motorsport, completed the podium in these sessions.

Three rounds of racing will have been contested this Saturday in this category. If Bernard Delhez and Marc Waechter retained their positions obtained in the morning in the first 2 heats, it was the Swiss driver who took the best in the 3rd heat of the race ahead of the Belgian driver after a big fight on the track. The fight for 3rd place was intense.

In the 1st round, it’s Xavier Fouineau and his Peugeot 308 Cup which passed through the drops to claim the podium. The hierarchy was more logically respected in the following two rounds, with Maxime Mainguy at fault in the first, but crowned with 2 third places in the following rounds.

Simon Escallier and Philippe Romero, teammates within the Autosport GP Team, dominated class 5B head and shoulders, while the Mitjets of Serge Nauges and Marine Pidoux successively experienced problems in the first 2 rounds of the race and the first city ​​had to prematurely end its Var weekend.

In the 308 Cup, Florian Briché took control of the 2nd race, before Xavier Fouineau took over. The last race round of the WE will take place this Sunday morning.

SINGLE SEATER

A newcomer arrived this season in the Challenge Single seat, in the person of Nicolas Cheers. Without being asked, the former Renault e-Dams driver in Formula E set the benchmark in the only qualifying session for the category, decisive for the allocation of places on the grids for races 1 and 2, the starting grid of race 3 being decided by adding the rankings of the 2 races.

Behind Prost, it was Eric Trouillet and Jacopo D’Amato (Graff Racing) who completed the next two positions on the grid. In Formula Renault, Shanon Lugassy was ahead of Franck Seeman and David Cristini.

In the race, Nicolas Prost pursued his lone rider to claim victory in what was ultimately the only race of the day due to rain (race 2 having been postponed to this Sunday. Editor's note). Jacopo D'Amato, at the wheel of his F3R, took second place, while Sébastien Page beat Eric Trouillet to grab the podium.

After a complicated start, Shannon Lugassy lost the benefit of his pole position in Formula Renault and let Franck Seeman race towards victory. Opportunistic, Massimo Bortolami (Race Motorsport) took 2nd place in the race ahead of former hill climb specialist, Gilles Depierre.

208 RACING CUP / RELAY 208

In this 2021 season, the Ultimate Cup hosts the Rencontres Peugeot Sport and its 2 race formats: the 208 Racing Cup (4 races of 25 minutes each) and the 208 Relay, over a 4-hour format. Concerning the qualifications of the 208 Racing Cup, the 2 sessions on Saturday made it possible to define the starting order of races 1 and 3, while the Top 10 of these same races were reversed to determine the starting order of the Top 10 drivers on the grids for races 2 and 4.

In qualifying, Marc Fleurance took pole in the first race then 1th place in the third. Pierre Monmaneix and Alexandre Finkenstein completed the podiums of the 4st qualifying session, while the 1st city slipped to 1rd place for the start of the 3rd round, narrowly beaten by Joran Leneutre.

In race 1, Marc Fleurance won ahead of Monmaneix and Finkenstein. Race 2 was interrupted due to rain and lack of visibility, while the 3rd round won Alexandre Finkelstein, ahead of Spanish driver Hugo Hernandez and Colin Boreau. We will have to wait until this Sunday for the last round of the specialty race.

The Relay 208 race will take place tomorrow, from 15:25 p.m., and will close this first meeting of the season in the Ultimate Cup Series.

PROTO CHALLENGE

There will be some spectacle this season as part of the Challenge Proto. First of all, in LMP3, the Ultimate Cup Series field welcomes Team Mirage this season with a crew made up of Mathias Bèche and Emilien Carde.

The Virage #88, reigning champion, in any case took pole position, ahead of the #13 Mirage, closely followed by the other Virage #77 entrusted to Pontus Fredericsson and Stéphane Adler. In CN, and despite a collision at the end of the session, Team ANS Motorsport took pole with Xavier Fort and Nicolas Marroc, ahead of the #42 from Palmyr driven by Faggionato and Cavailhes and the #221 from Team DB Autosport. Finally, #2 took the lead in the Proto Evos, ahead of #10 and #3.

At the end of a race which started under safety car regime, where several crews took the gamble of returning to the pits in the first laps, it was finally the Virage #88 driven by Cristovao, Wagg and Poulet which narrowly won ahead of the Mirage #13 of Bèche and Carde, and the other Virage #77 of Fredericsson and Adler. In CN, victory went to the #42 of Team Palmyr (Faggionato / Cavailhes) ahead of their teammates of the #40, Mondolot and Kubryk, and the #221 of Team DB Autosport (Bassora / Jarno / Robert). Finally, note the victory in Proto Evo of the #9 driven by Meunier and Tref.

NAPA GT-TOURING ENDURANCE

Another major category in the Ultimate Cup Series, NAPA GT-Touring Endurance. At the end of the 3 qualifying sessions of the day, it was the Renault RS01 #5 of Team AB Sport Auto (De-zoteux / Tribaudini) which took pole position ahead of the Mercedes of Team Racetivity entrusted to Collard and Samani, and the other RS01 of Team AB Sport Auto (Thybaud / Cayrolle). In the GT3B category, the #3 Code Racing Development Lamborghini will start in pole position on Sunday, ahead of the #55 VDS Racing Adventures.

The Porsche Cups fell to the #53 of Race Carbone, which dominated the #911 and #666 of Team ABM. Alone competing in class 5A, the CD Sport and its mount #4 will start tomorrow in 8th place in all categories combined. The pole position in Class 5B goes to the #190 of Team Autosport GP, followed by the #94 of Team Chazel and the #72 of Team Autosport GP. Finally, in UTCR, it was Chazel Technologies Course which imposed its #14 VW Golf, which stood out best ahead of another Golf from Team Code Racing Development and the Opel Astra TCR from Team Turbo 2000.

The race will take place tomorrow from 10:10 a.m., discover the report of the event right here at the end of the weekend.