6 Hours of Paul Ricard: Comtoyou Racing turns the tables at the finish and wins

It took real conviction to believe it. Certainly, the Mercedes Benz The #48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz, and Maro Engel led the race for almost the entire event, but the pole-sitting crew learned the hard way: it's not over until the checkered flag is waved. From the start, the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO took the lead and managed its race with disconcerting control.

However, the opening minutes were very eventful further back in the pack. A collision at the end of the pit straight involved a ROWE Racing BMW, the McLaren No. 555 of Baptiste Moulin (CSA Racing) and the Porsche No. 10 (Boutsen VDS), which ended up in the wall. First safety car in the opening minutes, and the first blow for theAston Martin Comtoyou Racing #7: a puncture at the start of the race forced the crew to make a premature stop and relegated them to the pack.

Up front, the unflappable "Mamba" continued its solo run, far from the troubles of its rivals. The scenario seemed predetermined, but with 45 minutes remaining, the No. 93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Porsche came to a halt on the track, triggering a Full Course Yellow and then a safety car. The race restarted with 25 minutes to go, for a final sprint in which everything changed. Nicki Thiim, on track for the final stint in the No. 7 Aston Martin, launched his attack. Setting the fastest lap of the race, he steadily closed the gap, losing tenths of a second to get right behind Lucas Auer. With nine minutes remaining, the Austrian, under pressure, ran slightly wide at Signes. Thiim needed no further invitation: he overtook, controlled the final minutes of the race, and crossed the finish line victorious by a mere 0,806 seconds after six hours of racing.

Jules Gounon suffers a sudden illness

The #58 McLaren of Garage 59 — Thomas Fleming, Louis Prette, and Benjamin Goethe — completed the overall podium while also winning the Gold Cup, a category it dominated all weekend. The #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Team WRT (Kelvin van der Linde, Jordan Pepper, Charles Weerts) took fourth place, benefiting from a car that was particularly comfortable after dark. Finally, the #59 McLaren of Garage 59 (Marvin Kirchhöfer, Joseph Loake, Dean MacDonald), which spun early in the race, climbed back to fifth place after dropping to 54th. McLaren thus placed two of its 720S GT3 EVOs in the top five.

Among other notable performances, the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche (Dorian Boccolacci, Morris Schuring, Alessio Picariello) produced one of the highlights of the race: starting from last place on the grid, it made the most of both safety car periods thanks to an alternative strategy initiated during the first safety car period, climbing to eighth place overall. The #98 ROWE Racing BMW (Raffaele Marciello, Jake Dennis, Augusto Farfus) finished sixth, ahead of the #17 GetSpeed ​​Mercedes (Maxime Martin, Maximilian Götz, Fabian Schiller). The #3 Mercedes of Verstappen Racing (Daniel Juncadella, Chris Lulham, Jules Gounon) completes the top 10, with Gounon physically weakened by food poisoning. "I rested as much as I could before the race and I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I still gave it my all during the double relay, probably one of the toughest I've ever done."he shared on his Instagram account after the race. “I’ve never struggled so much in a race car and I pushed myself to a point I didn’t think I could reach. After my stint, I completely passed out and ended up going back to the medical center for a few hours. A huge thank you to the medical team for taking such good care of me, and also to the 2 Seas Motorsport teams who stayed with me there.”

Lance Stroll and the No. 18 car finish far back

The main attraction of the race was the presence of Lance stroll, first pilot of F1 currently competing in a GT World Challenge round. For his very first laps in GT3 after a brief test at the Nürburgring, the Canadian demonstrated promising pace – particularly at night – but the accumulation of penalties for him and his teammates Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya (failure to respect blue flags, exceeding track limits, incident with the Classic Ferrari for sale Lilou Wadoux's number 50 Aston Martin condemned the number 18 Comtoyou Racing car to an anonymous 48th place. Towards the end of the race, Stroll was running top-10 pace before being called back to the pits five minutes from the finish with mechanical problems.

In the class standings, the Silver Cup went to the #9 Pure Racing Porsche (Alex Malykhin, Aleksei Nesov, Max Hofer), ahead of the #30 Team WRT BMW (Matisse Lismont, Ignacio Montenegro, Amaury Cordeel) and the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin (Kobe Pauwels, Sébastien Baud, Oliver Söderström), which started from pole position. The Bronze Cup was won by the #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche (Riccardo Pera, Antares Au, Loek Hartog), ahead of the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes and the #991 Paradine Competition BMW.

GT World Challenge Europe – 6 Hours of Paul Ricard 
The complete classification of the race

In bold, the class winners 

1. #7 Aston Martin Comtoyou Racing — Drudi / Sørensen / Thiim
2. #48 Mercedes-AMG Mann-Filter — Engel / Auer / Stolz (+0,8 s)
3. #58 McLaren Garage 59 — Fleming / Prette / Goethe — Gold Cup (+4,4 s)
4. #32 BMW Team WRT — Van der Linde / Pepper / Weerts (+10,8 s)
5. #59 McLaren Garage 59 — Loake / MacDonald / Kirchhöfer (+25,9 s)
6. #98 BMW ROWE Racing — Farfus / Dennis / Marciello (+28,6 s)
7. #17 Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed ​​— Martin / Götz / Schiller (+29,4 s)
8. #2 Porsche Boutsen VDS — Boccolacci / Schuring / Picariello (+2:15)
9. #111 McLaren CSA Racing — Kell / Rougier / Gachet — Gold Cup (+31,3 s)
10. #3 Mercedes-AMG Verstappen Racing — Juncadella / Lulham / Gounon (+35,7 s)
11. #998 BMW ROWE Racing — De Wilde / Tramnitz / Klingmann — Gold Cup (+38,6 s)
12. #46 BMW Team WRT — Harper / Hesse / Rossi (1 turn)
13. #97 Porsche Rutronik Racing — Pera / Au / Hartog — Bronze Cup
14. #51 Ferrari AF Corse — Rovera / Nielsen / Mosca
15. #84 Audi Eastalent Racing — Haase / Reicher / Winkelhock
16. #71 Ferrari Selected Car Racing — Schandorff / Ebdrup / Birch — Gold Cup
17. #9 Porsche Pure Rxcing — Nesov / Malykhin / Hofer — Silver Cup
18. #30 BMW Team WRT — Montenegro / Lismont / Cordeel — Silver Cup
19. #50 Ferrari AF Corse — Wadoux / Leclerc / Gelael
20. #21 Aston Martin Comtoyou Racing — Söderström / Baud / Pauwels — Silver Cup
21. #66 Audi Tresor Attempto Racing — Mazzola / Øgaard / Levi — Silver Cup
22. #87 Mercedes-AMG Winward Racing — Dienst / Piana / Salikhov — Bronze Cup
23. #991 BMW Paradine Competition — Vanthoor / Kellett / Leung — Bronze Cup
24. #992 BMW Paradine Competition — Hahn / Sutton / De Haan — Gold Cup
25. #64 Ford Mustang HRT Ford Racing — Maini / Scherer / Drouet
26. #65 Ford Mustang HRT Ford Racing — Wiebelhaus / Coseteng / Oosten — Silver Cup
27. #222 Mercedes-AMG 2 Seas Motorsport — Barr / Dawson / Jewiss — Bronze Cup
28. #74 Ferrari Kessel Racing — Blattner / Patrese / Marschall — Bronze Cup
29. #42 BMW Oman Racing — Al Harthy / Sagrera / Williams — Bronze Cup
30. #25 Audi Sainteloc Racing — Perez Companc / Cheli / Klymenko — Silver Cup
31. #52 Ferrari AF Corse — Zagazeta / Machiels / Stadsbader — Silver Cup
32. #23 McLaren Team RJN — Fitz-Simon / Lynn / Dörr — Silver Cup
33. #6 Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed ​​BartoneBros — Panis / Bartone / Gazeau — Silver Cup
34. #35 Aston Martin Walkenhorst Motorsport — Simon / Ischer / Villagomez — Silver Cup
35. #91 Porsche Herberth Motorsport — Bohn / Van Eijndhoven / Renauer — Bronze Cup
36. #12 Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed ​​Dubai — Rindone / Kalender / Grenier — Bronze Cup
37. #54 Porsche Dinamic GT — Sathienthirakul / Simonazzi / Whiteside — Silver Cup
38. #24 Corvette Steller Motorsport — Doquin / Fluxa Cross / Lind — Gold Cup
39. #63 Lamborghini TGI Team by GRT — Perera / Paul / Bortolotti
40. #914 Porsche Razoon — Tweraser / Olbert / Paque — Bronze Cup
41. #56 Aston Martin Ecurie Scotland Blackthorn — Adam / Wood / Petrobelli — Bronze Cup
42. #45 Ferrari Rinaldi Racing — Duran / Medler / Perel — Silver Cup
43. #88 Audi Tresor Attempto Racing — Schreiner / Di Amato / Di Folco — Bronze Cup
44. #11 Aston Martin Comtoyou Racing — Tomasoni / Muss / Marcelli — Bronze Cup
45. #4 McLaren Optimum Motorsport — Smalley / Tomlinson / George — Gold Cup
46. ​​#67 Mercedes-AMG GetSpeed ​​Noble Racing — Noble / Hart / Ellis — Bronze Cup
47. #177 Mercedes-AMG Grupo Prom Racing — Hernandez Ortega / Tribaudini / Caresani — Bronze Cup
48. #18 Aston Martin Comtoyou Racing — Merhi / Stroll / Boya
49. #93 Porsche Ziggo Sport Tempesta — Costantini / Froggatt / Cheever — Bronze Cup

Uncategorized: #5 McLaren Optimum Motorsport, #60 Ferrari JMW Motorsport, #99 Audi Tresor Attempto Racing, #96 Lamborghini Rutronik Racing, #80 Porsche Lionspeed GP, #44 McLaren Greystone GT, #89 Porsche Lionspeed GP, #555 McLaren CSA Racing, #10 Porsche Boutsen VDS.