Iron Lynx scores a 1-2 finish at the Paul Ricard 1000

In the second biggest race of the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup calendar, the Paul Ricard 1000, Iron Lynx prevailed not only by having the No. 71 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco getting the win over strong efforts from Akkodis-ASP, Emil Frey Racing and Dinamic Motorsport, but also by having the No. 51 Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen, James Calado and Miguel Molina completing the 1-2 for the Italian squad.

Daniel Serra just moved the No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari enough to hold the top position when the race started, and with 53 cars trying to find their positions on track, casualties would happen, as it affected the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren, the No. 5 HRT Mercedes and the No. 563 VSR Lamborghini.

Serra’s lead lasted as much as 15 minutes, with Klaus Bachler and his No. 54 Dinamic Porsche finding the way through on better pace, while the others behind the Brazilian tried aggressive moves with no success. Next to attack was Mirko Bortolotti in the No. 63 Emil Frey Lamborghini, and he brought Raffaele Marciello in the No. 88 Akkodis-ASP Mercedes along, throwing the No. 71 to fourth in less than 30 minutes, and due to the No. 54’s lack of grip in the corners, the No. 63 became the new leader.

The No. 88 takes the lead from the No. 63 once the second hour starts, but further behind, the No. 54 suffers from heavy front end damage due to a crash into a stranded No. 93 Tempesta Mercedes, leaving no other choice to Klaus Bachler than to crawl and park the Porsche. The No. 88 spent the rest of the first third in the lead, but the No. 63 and the No. 71 wouldn’t leave it alone, which paid off at halfway mark when it took the top spot from a drive through for the No. 88.

If things couldn’t get worse for the No. 88 Akkodis-ASP Mercedes, the unsafe release penalty was followed by a stop and go for short refueling near the end of the third hour, which basically threw it to fourth. Jules Gounon made it back to second, but it wasn’t enough to shake off Antonio Fuoco in the No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari, and the leader saw the number of possible opponents decrease as the No. 63 Emil Frey Lamborghini be black flagged as it was without the rear lights.

A late Safety Car brought the cars together and would be chance for Gounon to attack, but instead, when the green flag was back, Miguel Molina shoved his way to second in the No. 51 Iron Lynx Ferrari, and with the Spanish driver basically holding the No. 88, Fuoco just had to get the checkered flag for the No. 71 Iron Lynx Ferrari.

Paul Ricard 1000 - Race results

The No. 777 Al Manar HRT Mercedes scored the Silver Cup win and was seventh overall, while a faultless race for the No. 7 Inception McLaren did the job for the unrivaled Gold Cup winners.

The No. 20 SPS Mercedes was the only class winner outside the overall top 10, as they snatched the Pro-Am Cup win from a dominant No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren in the final lap of the race.

The win at Paul Ricard was enough to propel the trio from the No. 71 to the Endurance Cup lead with 38 points against 37 from the trio of the No. 88 Akkodis-ASP Mercedes, and the trio of the No. 51 Iron Lynx Ferrari is following the sister car in the table too, having now 30 points in the third position.

Now the focus shifts to not only the next round, but also the most important one, the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa on 21-21 June.

PHOTO: SRO/Patrick Hecq