A crazy first round of the GT World Challenge Endurance at Le Castellet!

• For this opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance, we had everything. The Castellet circuit offered us battles, clashes, drama and suspense. After 3 hours of racing, Rowe Racing's #998 BMW won. Starting in pole position, Lamborghini #63 finished in 2nd place after leading the entire first part of the race. There Mercedes #2 completes the podium.

There it is. Caldarelli gets a little wide and Harper doesn't need asking twice. The BMW leads at Circuit Paul Ricard.

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• The start was rather calm, only Lamborghini #163 (Grasser Racing Team) spun. The first Safety Car intervened after 8 minutes of racing; all the bollards and floppys were torn off. Little action during the first stint but everything accelerated at the end of the latter. The #4 BMW M3 GT32 (Team WRT) suffered a puncture at the start of turn 5. Collision with the Ferrari #51 which leaves a lot of debris on the track. The first wave of pit stops is underway.
• When changing drivers, the Porsche #22 (Schumacher CLRT) takes the lead. Dorian Boccolacci then found himself 1st for his debut in GT World Challenge Endurance. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, the stop did not go as planned. A cable remained attached to his 911 GT3 R. The black and orange flag was waved, the Porsche Carrera Cup France champion had to stop again, which put him in 46th place. This is the start of a long comeback that begins for Boccolacci. With incredible pace, he manages to grab many positions. Laurin Heinrich, his teammate, took over the wheel for the last stint in 18th position. The #22 Porsche will take the checkered flag in 12th place.

The leader has a big issue here. The earthing connector is still attached from the pit stop. That's going to bring the #22 Porsche into the pits.

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— Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (@GTWorldChEu) April 7, 2024

• Also note a very good comeback from the #99 Audi of Tresor Attempto Racing. Starting 35th, Ricardo Feller, Christopher Haase and Alex Aka all three had an almost perfect race and moved up to 6th place.
• Best result in GT World Challenge Endurance for Valentino Rossi ! On the last lap of the race, his teammate Raffaele Marciello managed to snatch 4th place with the #46 BMW of Team WRT.
• The balance of performance ensures. In the top 10, we find 8 different cars, only McLaren is not among the latter.
• With the performances shown since the start of the weekend, no one saw a Ford entering the top 10 and yet, it happened! The #3 Mustang GT64 (Proton Competition) snatched a point and finished in 10th place.

©GT World Challenge Endurance

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