174 drivers entered the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS at Circuit Paul Ricard last weekend. Lance Stroll ranked 24th on the average lap times over 20 laps. The Aston Martin F1 driver ranked 12th on the average over 10 laps.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
🏆 CHAMPIONS RETURN FOR BLUE RIBAND EVENT: Charles Dawson and Kiern Jewiss, who are competing in #GTWorldEurope in 2026, are coming back to the British GT Championship as a one-off. They enter the #Silverstone500 next weekend with a 2 Seas Motorsport AMG.
📸 SRO/JEP | #BritishGT
👀 PITTARD JOINS NEW BMW SQUAD: After announcing their debut in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup powered by AWS this year, KPX Motorsport have now revealed their driver line-up. David Pittard and Jop Rappange have signed on with the Dutch outfit.
📸 KPX | #GTWorldEurope
4⃣ BMW M - 99 (-76)
5⃣ Audi Sport - 93 (-82)
6⃣ McLaren - 61 (-114)
7⃣ Aston Martin - 58 (-117)
8⃣ Lamborghini - 38 (-137)
9⃣ Ford - 20 (-155)
1⃣0⃣ Corvette - 0 (-175)
#GTWorldEurope
📊 GT World Challenge manufacturers' championship after Paul Ricard 🇫🇷
1⃣ Mercedes-AMG - 175 points
2⃣ Porsche - 152 (-23)
3⃣ Ferrari - 111 (-64)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Bronze Cup:
1⃣ Rutronik with Porsche - 33 points
2⃣ Winward with Mercedes-AMG - 24 (-9)
3⃣ Paradine with BMW - 19 (-14)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Silver Cup:
1⃣ Pure Rxcing with Porsche - 33 points
2⃣ WRT with BMW - 24 (-9)
3⃣ Comtoyou with Aston Martin - 20 (-13)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Gold Cup:
1⃣ Garage 59 with McLaren - 34 points
2⃣ CSA with McLaren - 24 (-10)
3⃣ ROWE with BMW - 19 (-15)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
📊 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams' championship after Paul Ricard 🇫🇷
Overall:
1⃣ Comtoyou with Aston Martin - 33 points
2⃣ Winward with Mercedes-AMG - 25 (-8)
3⃣ Garage 59 with McLaren - 19 (-14)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Bronze Cup:
1⃣ Au / Hartog / Pera - 33 points
2⃣ Dienst / Piana / Salikhov - 24 (-9)
3⃣ Kellett / Leung / Vanthoor - 19 (-14)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Silver Cup:
1⃣ Hofer / Malykhin / Nesov - 33 points
2⃣ Cordeel / Lismont / Montenegro - 24 (-9)
3⃣ Baud / Pauwels / Söderström - 20 (-13)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Gold Cup:
1⃣ Fleming / Goethe / Prette - 34 points
2⃣ Gachet / Kell / Rougier - 24 (-10)
3⃣ Klingmann / Tramnitz / De Wilde - 19 (-15)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
📊 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers' championship after Paul Ricard 🇫🇷
Overall:
1⃣ Drudi / Sørensen / Thiim - 33 points
2⃣ Auer / Engel / Stolz - 25 (-8)
3⃣ Fleming / Goethe / Prette - 19 (-14)
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Grande prova di resistenza per il pilota francese, che ha gareggiato nonostante un'intossicazione alimentare, prima di svenire al termine dello stint.
#TSOS // #GTWorldEurope // #VerstappenRacing // #Endurance // #Motorsport
0 of the 51 penalties came from Bronze-rated drivers - they were for the quick drivers in the field, like Philip Ellis, Dan Harper, Dennis Lind, Maxime Oosten, David Perel, Lance Stroll, the list goes on.
They have to solve this for Monza in May.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
51 penalties for ignoring blue flags were issued, but most of these seem to have come from drivers unlapping themselves, but then failing to pull away by at least 0.7 seconds within two sectors. And 0.7 seconds is a massive gap in GT3 racing.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Ahead of the Paul Ricard season opener, an automated system for blue flag infringements was implemented, where if a lapping car comes within 0.7 seconds, a driver gets a 30-second time penalty if they haven't moved out of the way after two sectors.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
The streak of races without a driver or a team winning consecutive Endurance Cup races has now gone up to 44.
The last time was Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Christian Engelhart with Grasser at Monza and Silverstone in 2017.
📸 Olivier Beroud | #GTWorldEurope
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS is currently on a streak of 25 races without a manufacturer winning consecutive races.
Porsche was the last to do so, when Dinamic won Monza and GPX Martini won Paul Ricard in 2021.
📸 Dirk Bogaerts | #GTWorldEurope
Jules Gounon was suffering from food poisoning yesterday. His double stint in hours two and three at Paul Ricard was "one of the hardest" he ever did. The Verstappen Racing driver then passed out and spent a couple of hours in the medical centre.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
The stewards issued *51* 30-second time penalties for drivers ignoring blue flags.
*8* of those came from the No. 18 Comtoyou Aston Martin, of which six from Roberto Merhi and two from Lance Stroll.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
The No. 11 Comtoyou Aston Martin has received a 40-second post-race time penalty, after Kyle Marcelli was deemed to have caused a collision with Maxime Oosten in Bendor corner. It cost the No. 65 Haupt Mustang a chance at the Silver Cup podium.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
The stewards have handed out a €4000 fine (€2000 suspended) to Herberth Motorsport due to "inappropriate behaviour". An engineer of the No. 91 Porsche posted in the team messaging app "This race is a shit show honestly". He is banned from the app.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Here are the provisional results of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS season opener at Circuit Paul Ricard.
#GTWorldEurope
The No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche dropped from P5 to P8 in the final laps, but now Dorian Boccolacci, Alessio Picariello and Morris Schuring won't score points at all, as they're handed a 105-second time penalty for entering a closed pits under the FCY.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
And that's a wrap for the first round of Endurance Cup and the 2026 season opener of #gtworld #gt3 #gtworldeurope. Onwards to the next Endurance Cup round in Monza at the end of May.
Antares Au, Loek Hartog and Riccardo Pera dominate the Bronze Cup with Rutronik Racing. Marvin Dienst, Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov grab second place in class with an alternate strategy ahead of James Kellett, Darren Leung and Dries Vanthoor.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
Pure Rxcing win the Silver Cup, as Max Hofer, Alex Malykhin and Alexey Nesov beat the WRT BMW of Amaury Cordeel, Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro. The Comtoyou Aston of Sébastien Baud, Kobe Pauwels and Oliver Söderström rounds out the podium.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
CSA Racing make it a one-two for McLaren in the Gold Cup. Simon Gachet, James Kell and Arthur Rougier cross the line second in class and ninth overall ahead of the ROWE Racing BMW of Jens Klingmann, Tim Tramnitz and Ugo de Wilde.
📸 SRO/JEP | #GTWorldEurope
What a season opener it has been. Almost six hours of racing, yet there's always last minute battle for overall lead.
#gtworld #gt3 #gtworldeurope
