The first race of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe calendar had nearly six hours of total control from the No. 48 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo, only for it to be blown away by a late Safety Car period that gave the chance for the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo to win the Paul Ricard 1000, complimenting the job done by Mattia Drudi and Marco Sorensen as they kept the car in contention for a really long time.
The start of the race can hardly be called a start, because in the middle of the pack, two separate incidents happened in the main straight and at Turn 2, prompting the Safety Car immediately, with the No. 9 Boutsent VDS Porsche and the No. 15 CSA McLaren taking the major hits as they had heavy impacts with the walls at the straight.
Once the race started for real, the No. 48 Winward Mercedes stood in control of the situation, even though the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren kept a close watch of the overall lead while mantaining the top of the Gold Cup. The No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche appeared in the lead for a while until three Mercedes appear on top, with the No. 48 returning to his rightful position while the No. 17 Getspeed one and the No. 3 Verstappen car battled for second place, and while Jules Gounon passed Maxime Martin, both were passed by the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche as Thomas Preining slingshot his way from the outside of a five-wide scrap at Mistral.
As the race approached the halfway mark and the night started to fall, it was becoming clear that only the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche was the only car that was able to close down on the No. 48, with Ricardo Feller doing half of the job as the gap was within 10 seconds, but then, steering issues fell over the Porsche and it was forced to park in the team’s garage, opening the way for the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin to take the second place.
Other cars cycled within the top five, but in the end the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren returned to the overall podium after dropping off near of the halfway mark, still keeping the Gold Cup lead with miles of advantage. A late Safety Car intervention gave a lifeline for Nicki Thiim, and with the final thirty minutes offering the last opportunity to take the overall lead, Thiim charged over Lucas Auer, and with seven minutes to go, the Danish driver didn’t even have to barge his way part Auer, as the German was tricked into a mistake and went wide at Signes, leaving the way totally open for the No. 7 Comtoyou Aston Martin to not only take the lead, but also to win the race as the retribution never came before the checkered flag.
GTWC Europe - Paul Ricard 1000 results
The No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren kept the overall podium and won the Gold Cup comfortably, stepping into Pro Cup territory for the whole race and not offering an ounce of a chance to the No. 111 CSA McLaren. Same thing went for the No. 87 Rutronik Porsche in the Bronze Cup, punching way above its weight as it finished in thirteenth overall, considerably better than the Silver Cup winning No. 9 PURE Porsche, which still finished within the overall top 20.
The No. 18 Comtoyou Aston Martin that had Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll as a guest along with Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya was the first of the list of retirements of the race, with contacts and penalties making for a rough race for them, but still, 47 cars crossed the finish line out of the 58 that started the race.
GTWC Europe continues the schedule with the Sprint Cup opener at Brands Hatch on 2 and 3 May, while the Endurance Cup will resume activities with the 24 Hours of Spa test days on 19 and 20 May for the second round at Monza on 31 May.
PHOTO: SRO/JEP
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