Non Pro Cup winners at Paul Ricard

SRO

Apr 8

Four different manufacturers’ customer teams secured a win for the first GT World Challenge Europe Endurance race at Circuit Paul Ricard: BMW with ROWE Racing in PRO Cup, Audi with Saintéloc Racing in the Gold Cup, Mercedes with Winward in Silver Cup and Ferrari with Kessel Racing in Bronze Cup.

25 cars ended in the leas lap reflecting the number of cautions during the 3 hours race. The first non PRO Cup car ended 13th overall reflecting the level of the teams with factory drivers in PRO Cup. For top ten overall read here.

Let’s review the podiums for Gold, Silver and Bronze Cups.

Saintéloc Racing wins Gold Cup with #25 Audi

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Gilles Magnus, Jim Pla and Paul Evrard with Sainteloc Racing #25 Audi secured Gold Cup honours thanks to Jim Pla who moved into the lead around mid-distance by passing the then leading #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG..

Class pole seating #777 Mercedes-AMG driven by Al Faisal Al Zubair, Dominik Baumann and Mikael Grenier finished second .

Arthur Rougier, Romain Carton and Adam Eteki in the #111 CSA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II were also on the Gold Cup podium with a P3 in class.

Mercedes-AMG squats Silver Cup podium.

Silver Cup victory went to Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 #57. Tanart Sathienthirakul ran third during his stint. Daan Arrow took over and jumped to the front at mid-race. Together with Colin Caresani who took over for the last stint, they pulled away ending 12,57 seconds ahead of the second Mercedes in P2.

#10 Boutsen VDS Mercdes-AMG GT3 with Cesar Gazeau, Roee Meyuha and Aurelien Panis won the battle for runner-up spot thanks to a fast finish from Aurélien Panis, beating the #90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes by 0,517 seconds.

Despite starting from pole in class, the duo Ezequiel Perez Companc, Patrick Assenheime with #90 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 end third in class.

Double for Ferrari in Bronze Cup

Both Ferrari 296 GT3 #8 and #52 had quite a modest qualifying session, hence starting from the back of the field. Nicolo Rosi and Niccolo Schiro with #8 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 made gradual progress up the order before hitting the front in the final stint with pro driver David Fumanelli at the wheel.

Louis Machiels, Jef Machiels and Andrea driving #52 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 made it a Ferrari one-two.

Job Van Uiteirt, John De Wilde and Kobe Pauwels with Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin AMR GT3 EVO completed the class podium, ending one second behind the second Ferrari in class.

Overall results are here