GTWC Paul Ricard: Thiim, Sørensen and Drudi Snatch Late Win for Comtoyou in GT World Challenge Europe Opener

Text: Rick Kiewiet

Images: SRO

A crowd of over 37,000 at Circuit Paul Ricard witnessed one of the more dramatic finishes in recent GT World Challenge Europe memory, as the #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo snatched victory from the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter with eight minutes remaining. Nicki Thiim, Marco Sørensen and Mattia Drudi took the win; the #48 crew of Lucas Auer, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz had to settle for second after dominating for the better part of six hours.

Qualifying

Mann-Filter secured the ROWE Pole Position Award for the second consecutive year at Paul Ricard, Auer, Stolz and Engel combining for a 1:53.622 aggregate — just 0.054 seconds clear of the #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Goethe, Prette and Fleming. The #7 Comtoyou Aston of Drudi, Sørensen and Thiim qualified third, with the #59 Garage 59 McLaren fourth. The #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche completed a tightly packed top five, all five cars covered by less than a tenth on aggregate.

Fabian Schiller set the fastest individual lap of the session with a 1:53.049 in Q3. BMW had a difficult afternoon, the #32 Team WRT entry managing only tenth. F1 driver Lance Stroll set the 17th best time in his qualifying segment, placing the #18 Comtoyou Aston 15th overall. The #21 Comtoyou Aston took Silver Cup pole, the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche headed Bronze. The session's only interruption came when the #87 Winward Mercedes-AMG stopped on track with a suspected loose wheel nut early in Q2.

Race

The lights went green early, catching polesitter Engel off guard as Goethe immediately attacked in the #58 McLaren — though Engel held firm. Within moments, a first-lap incident on the pit straight (not the first time in recent history at Paul Ricard) brought out the Safety Car: the #555 CSA Racing McLaren and #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche both made heavy contact with the barriers, eliminating both cars on the spot. All drivers walked away unaided.

Once racing resumed, the #48 Mann-Filter Mercedes took control and largely stayed there. The field's most notable moment in the opening half came in the second hour, when Preining produced a spectacular four-wide move on the Mistral Straight in the #80 Lionspeed Porsche, vaulting from fourth to second past both the #17 GetSpeed and #3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMGs in one manoeuvre. The Porsche looked capable of threatening the lead until a mechanical problem in the fourth hour — described by Feller as leaving the car effectively undrivable — sent it into retirement.

The #7 Comtoyou Aston had appeared to be racing for damage limitation after Sørensen suffered a puncture in the opening hour, diving into the pits unannounced and forcing an unscheduled stop that left the car on a different strategy to the frontrunners. The factory trio nonetheless maintained strong pace throughout, methodically working back towards the front and establishing themselves in second by the time the race's second Safety Car appeared (remarkably few for Paul Ricard) — the #93 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Porsche stranded with 45 minutes remaining, wiping out the #48's 15-second lead at a stroke.

Auer restarted with six lapped cars between himself and Thiim and quickly rebuilt a 3.9-second gap. Once Thiim cleared the traffic, the gap evaporated. With eleven minutes to go he was within a second of the Mercedes, and with eight minutes remaining Auer ran wide at Signes under pressure on the Mistral Straight. Thiim was through. Auer pushed hard in the closing laps but could not find a way back, Thiim holding on to win by 0.806 seconds. It was Aston Martin's first GT World Challenge Europe win since the same trio triumphed at the 2024 Spa 24 Hours.

The #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Goethe, Prette and Fleming completed the podium having led the Gold Cup throughout. Fourth went to the #32 Team WRT BMW, which climbed from tenth on the grid as the BMWs came on stronger after dark. Fifth was the #59 Garage 59 McLaren — a remarkable recovery after Sørensen tagged MacDonald into a spin at Turn 2 on the opening lap, dropping the car to the back of the field. The #98 ROWE Racing BMW of Farfus, Dennis and Marciello finished sixth. Both remaining factory Mercedes-AMGs faded through the field, the #17 GetSpeed finishing seventh and the #3 Verstappen Racing car tenth.

Silver Cup honours went to the #9 Pure Rxcing Porsche of Nesov, Malykhin and Hofer, Nesov passing the #30 Team WRT BMW of Matisse Lismont following the final restart. The #65 HRT Ford Racing Mustang had led the class for much of the first half before contact dropped Maxime Oosten to fifth late on. The #21 Comtoyou Aston had run at the front of the class before a short pitstop penalty ended its challenge, while the #5 Optimum McLaren lost ground with gearbox trouble. The #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche of Wu, Hartog and Pera took a dominant Bronze Cup win, over a minute clear of the field before the late Safety Car, finishing 13th overall. Second in class from the back of the grid went to the #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, the #991 Paradine Competition BMW third.

Lance Stroll's #18 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin endured a torrid night on his GT3 debut, the car accumulating a Stop&Go penalty and a further 430 seconds in time penalties across the three drivers and being classified 48th. Mari Boya received the Stop&Go, while Roberto Merhi was handed 150 seconds for ignoring blue flags and a further 105 seconds for track limits violations. Stroll himself was not without incident either, picking up 60 seconds for blue flag infringements and 115 seconds for track limits. It was a steep learning curve for all three on their GT World Challenge Europe debuts, and one the team will be keen to put behind them quickly.

It was a difficult European debut for the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 as well, both cars running into trouble — the #63 TGI Team by GRT finishing 39th after a puncture, the #96 Rutronik Pro entry retiring after multiple stoppages.

The GT World Challenge Europe season resumes at Brands Hatch on 2-3 May for the opening Sprint Cup round.