6 Hours of Paul Ricard Recap - GT World Challenge Europe

On the 11th of April, the GT World Challenge Europe took place at Circuit Paul Ricard for a dramatic six-hour endurance race. Find out what happened in the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard recap!

To briefly recap qualifying, #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin started on pole for Silver Cup, #58 Garage 59 McLaren for Gold Cup,  #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche for Bronze Cup and the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER started on pole for the Pro Cup.

The race had a very chaotic start with an opening-lap incident after the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche hit the barrier causing yellow flags in Sector 1. Maro Engel was leading the way and had a very dramatic start to the 6-hour race. A safety car was deployed and remained in place for several laps as there weren't only cars to move but significant debris as well. The  #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche ran wide at Turn 7 but managed to rejoin the race. There was also damage early in the race to the #555 CSA Racing McLaren of Baptiste Moulin, with punctured tyres and potentially damaged suspension. 

The #44 Greystone GT McLaren of Jayden Kelly came into the pits also after involvement on the first lap, with the radiator having high pressure. The #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche initially rejoined after running wide at Turn 7 but later returned to the pits with rear damage from the incident. Dean Macdonald, who started fourth in the race, slipped down to fifty-third.  The safety car went back in at the start of Lap 7 with the expectation of a slow restart, Engel ledding the rest of the cars away.

With 47 minutes remaining, a yellow flag was shown in Sector 3, before a Full Course Yellow (FCY) was deployed two minutes later. With 31 minutes to go, the safety car was deployed before the drivers went back to racing under green flag conditions with 25 minutes to go.

During the race, Team WRT driver Jordan Pepper was interviewed and got asked how his first race was with the team and in the BMW.

Pepper responded - “It was a tale of two halves to be honest. The first stint was quite difficult with a lot of traffic. It's quite hard, they’re doing their race and it’s hard for us as well but around here these conditions have so much pickup. A couple times I had to avoid cars and you end up struggling a lot with that. The last stint was a lot better so I had a lot of good pace and was able to charge forward, so I'm really happy. I feel at home here with Team WRT and BMW Motorsport as well. They’ve just been so welcoming and incredible to get me up to speed and hopefully now the safety car brings us a bit closer but it seems like right now we’re the fourth quickest car so let’s see what we can do.”

Comtoyou Racing driver Mattia Drudi also got interviewed, being asked if there was still any chance of a victory to which he responded:

“I think there is, they just turned a short full course yellow to a long one and it means there will be a safety car afterwards so again we are going to be close to the Mercedes. We showed great pace especially at the end of the stint. We had new tyres for the last stint so I think we still have a good chance to win.” 

Drudi also got asked, “What’s been the key to the success of you finding the pace? Has it been something that's been switched on as the sun's gone down, has the temperature cooled on track?”

Drudi responded, “I think our car is normally quite strong with colder temperatures, especially during the last couple of stints. We showed that at the end of the stint we got better and better with the pace, our balance got greater, so now while it's going to be slightly cooler we should try to get in front of the Mercedes.”

 In the end, it was Comtoyou Racing who secured victory ahead of the Mercedes-AMG Team MANN FILTER entry, meaning that Comtoyou Racing is leading the team standings with 33 points.

Results

Overall

1. #7 - Comtoyou Racing (Aston Martin) -  Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim

2. #48 - Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER (Mercedes-AMG) -  Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz, Maro Engel

3. #58 - Garage 59 (McLaren) - Thomas Fleming, Louis Prette, Benjamin Goethe

4. #32 - Team WRT (BMW M) - Kelvin Van Der Linde, Jordan Pepper, Charles Weerts

5. #59 - Garage 59 (McLaren) - Joseph Loake, Dean Macdonald, Marvin Kirchhöfer

Bronze Cup

1. #97 - Rutronik Racing (Porsche) - Riccardo Pera, Antares Au, Loek Hartog

2. #87 - Winward Racing (Mercedes-AMG)  - Marvin Dienst, Gabriele Piana, Rinat Salikhov

3. #991 - Paradine Competition (BMW M) - Dries Vanthoor, James Kellett, Darren Leung

4. #222 - 2 Seas Motorsport (Mercedes-AMG) -  Reece Barr, Charles Dawson, Kiern Jewiss

5. #74 - Kessel Racing (Ferrari) - Dustin Blattner, Lorenzo Patrese, Dennis Marschall

Silver Cup

1. #9 - Pure Rxcing (Porsche) - Aleksei Nesov, Aliaksandr Malykhin, Max Hofer

2. #30 - Team  WRT (BMW M) - Ignacio Montenegro, Matisse Lismont, Amaury Cordeel

3. #21 - Comtoyou Racing (Aston Martin) - Oliver Söderström, Sébastien Baud, Kobe Pauwels

4. #66 - Tresor Attempto Racing (Audi) - Rocco Mazzola, Sebastian Øgaard, Ariel Levi

5. #65 - HRT Ford Racing (Ford) - Finn Wiebelhaus, Eduardo Coseteng, Maxime Oosten

Gold Cup

1. #58 - Garage 59 (McLaren) - Thomas Fleming, Louis Prette, Benjamin Goethe

2. #111 - Csa Racing (McLaren) - James Kell , Arthur Rougier, Simon Gachet

3. #998 - Rowe Racing (BMW M) - Ugo De Wilde, Tim Tramnitz, Jens Klingmann

4. #71 - Selected Car Racing (Ferrari) - Frederik Schandorff, Malte Ebdrup, Simon Birch

5. #992 - Paradine Competition (BMW M) - Christian Hahn, Ashley Sutton, Robert De Haan

Pro Cup

1. #7 - Comtoyou Racing (Aston Martin) -  Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim

2. #48 - Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER (Mercedes-AMG) -  Lucas Auer, Luca Stolz, Maro Engel

3. #32 - Team WRT (BMW M) - Kelvin Van Der Linde, Jordan Pepper, Charles Weerts

4. #59 - Garage 59 (McLaren) - Joseph Loake, Dean Macdonald, Marvin Kirchhöfer

5. #98 - Rowe Racing (BMW M) - Augusto Farfus, Jake Dennis, Raffaele Marciello

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