The summer holiday season has started, but the International GT Open community has one more commitment before being able to take a break: its traditional mid-July rendez-vous at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Because of the location close to the beaches, the crowds of holiday-makers and the warm weather, the event always has a taste of summer pleasures, but it’s serious business on the track, as the round marks the turning point of the season and the start of its second half.
The fast and technical 5.842-km track near Le Castellet is never an easy one to master, and often yields surprises. As customary, Race 1 on Saturday will start in the late afternoon, to avoid the heat peak, and will finish as the no less traditional Rooftop Party kicks off, a much-awaited get-together opportunity for the racing community, fans and tourists.
Confirming the trend of the season, 30 cars have been entered in the event, while the fight at the top of all standings is becoming closer and promises a hot weekend (in all senses) in the hills above the Mediterranean of the Var department.
PRO – A QUARTET OF CONTENDERS
Ten cars are fielded in the Pro class, which sees at the top a quartet of pairs representing four different car brands. With their third win of the season in Hungary, British young guns Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon, in the Elite Motorsport Ferrari, are keeping a firm lead. Thirteen points behind the Toms is the very consistent Motopark Mercedes of Christian Mansell and Maxi Götz, who won the Spa endurance race, and 16 points behind the top is the Greystone GT McLaren of Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald, very consistently on the podium and with one win under their belt. At Paul Ricard, Macdonald, taken by other commitments, will be replaced by 21-year-old McLaren factory driver Joseph Loake. Fourth in contention, with two wins but 22 points behind the leaders, are Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana, in the ZRS Motorsport Porsche.
There are more candidates for victory in France. First of all, the Villorba Corse Lamborghini, which should find at Ricard a very suited playground, with Leonardo Moncini and Rodrigo Testa certainly ready for a maiden win. A second Motopark Mercedes is fielded for regulars Marcelo Ramírez-Dominik Baumann.
The Ferrari camp sees the return for a second outing of the Al Manar by Dragon car of Al Faisal Al Zubair, this time paired with Ben Tuck, and the AF Corse cars of Rafael Durán associated with returnee David Perel, and Yaroslav Veselaho, again with Lorenzo Ferrari. Ricard will also see the return of Rinaldi Racing, a popular contender in the past, which is off for the first of its two planned appearances this year, with a 296 in the hands of US racer Dylan Medler and Alessandro Balzan.
PRO-AM – ALSO A FOUR-WAY AFFAIR
A diversified quartet is also what can be found at the top of the Pro-Am class, as always the most well-attended, with 13 cars. A somewhat unlucky weekend in Hungary has reduced to 15 the points lead of Alexander Fach, but the young Swiss in the Fach Auto Tech Porsche, again associated with Alexander Schwarzer, still has the advantage resulting from four wins. His closest rival is the Olimp Racing Ferrari of Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz, with Charlie Bateman, here again paired with Jonny Adam, 17 points behind in the Blackthorn Aston Martin. Fourth in contention is the ISR Racing Audi of Libor Milota and Filip Salaquarda, who took their first win of the year a fortnight ago.
Boosted by their win in Hungary, Laurent De Meeus and Vincent Abril, in the AF Corse Ferrari, will almost be local heroes, with the Italian team also fielding another 296, in the colours of Norik Racing, for Norikazu Shibata and Charlie Fagg. The other Ferrari present is the one by Into Africa Racing by Dragon of Xolile Letlaka and Stuart White.
It will be a home race for French outfit Saintéloc Racing and its Audi, with Michaël Blanchemain and Jim Pla certainly willing to continue their positive string of results in front of their fans. McLaren will be represented as customary by the Track Focused car of the Kell family, and the Greystone GT car of Andrey Borodin-Ollie Webb.
Always at the top in the class are Swiss duo Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler in the CBRX by SPS Mercedes, while there will be two BMWs, as the 4F PTT Racing Team car of Hubert Demetko and Fabian Dybionka is joined by the Pedersen Racing car of Lars Pedersen and Mikkel Pedersen in its second outing of the season.
AM – THE TOP THREE COVERED BY ONLY FIVE POINTS
More lively than ever this year, the Am class, where seven cars are entered in France, sees a close fight at the top of the standings. At the Hungaroring, Adrian Lewandowski, the Pole driving the Baron Motorsport Ferrari together with his father Andrzej (absent in Hungary), retook the lead of the standings, overtaking Joel Monegro in the Fach Auto Tech Porsche. The Dominican driver has two wins to his credit, one more than the Pole. Also with two successes is the Brazilian duo of the AF Corse Ferrari, Marcelo Hahn and Galid Osman, who are only five points behind the top.
Leading the opposition will be two all-Polish outfits, with one victory each: the GoodSpeed Aston Martin of Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz, and the Olimp Racing Ferrari of Stanislaw Jedlinski-Krystian Korzeniowski. Completing the field two solo drivers, Alfredo Hernández from Mexico, in the Grupo Prom RT Mercedes, and Seweryn Mazur from Poland in the Sendom Racing Team Lamborghini.