GTWC, Aston Martin wins at Paul Ricard! Drudi, Sorensen, and Thiim triumph – REPORT

The GTWC season has begun at Le Castellet: the Aston Martin crew of Drudi, Sorensen, and Thiim wins the first stage! The weekend REPORT

The GT World Challenge season has started on the former Formula 1 circuit of Paul Ricard, France. The 6h of Le Castellet went into the archives as a race that was quite uncertain until the very end. The race was quite exciting and, in the end, the crew of the number #7 Aston Martin, composed of Mattia Drudi, Marco Sørensen, and Nicki Thiim, managed to take home the first round.

With only one hour left in the race, the #48 Mercedes-AMG of the Mann-Filter team seemed to have the race in its grasp, having a gap over the first pursuers of 18 seconds. The German team’s crew had dominated the weekend, but right towards the end, a Safety Car forced everyone to respect a Delta time and allowed the pursuers to close, almost by magic, the entire gap.

Endurance races have taught us not to give up and precisely the number 7 Aston Martin, after a puncture at the beginning of the race, had remained clung to the race through battles on track, and exactly during the Safety Car found itself all of a sudden behind the leading car. At the end of the Safety Car, Thiim (who was driving the Aston Martin) overtook the rivals, settling into first position.

The 5-way battle on the Mistral straight

The images of the 5-way battle on the Mistral straight have gone around the world, right where Sainz, in 2022, pulled off fundamental overtakes for the comeback in the French Grand Prix. The most impressive image of all is the jump over the curb by Jules Gounon’s car, the #3 Mercedes of the Verstappen.com team, a symbol of the competitiveness that the category has reached over the years.

Stroll and the Italians

The French weekend also saw the debut of Lance Stroll in the GTWC, who had presented himself at Le Castellet announcing his competitiveness and that of the team, but the result… was not the best! The Canadian driver’s crew finished in P48 and was lapped 12 times, following a total of 465 seconds of penalty. The highest number of penalties was recorded by Merhi, Lance’s teammate, but Stroll is guilty of having recorded as many as 115 seconds of penalty for track limits alone!

A complicated weekend for Rossi, who finished outside the top 10, precisely in 12th position. The BMW of the former MotoGP champion lacked consistency in the race and the weekend in general, despite good premises. Below the (high) expectations was the weekend of Marciello aboard the #98 Rowe Racing BMW. The Italian-Swiss driver had shown up to the trials with a stronger pace, which was not fully maintained during the Paul Ricard weekend.

The winners for each class

PRO

1. #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin
2. #48 Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-FILTER
3. #32 Team WRT BMW

GOLD

1. #58 Garage 59 McLaren
2. #111 CSA Racing McLaren
3. #998 Rowe Racing BMW

SILVER

1. #9 Pure Rxcing Porsche
2. #30 Team WRT BMW
3. #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin

BRONZE

1. #97 Rutronik Racing Porsche
2. #87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG
3. #991 Paradine Competition BMW)

Photo: GTWC

Di

Nicola Lamberti

336 articles published in GPKingdom

Classe 2008 di Cuneo e aspirante ingegnere, Nicola Lamberti è autore per GPKingdom dal 2023 dove si occupa prevalentemente di F1. Grazie alla sua formazione tecnico-meccanica, analizza i fatti della pista con precisione e rigore, offrendo ai lettori una sintesi chiara e puntuale di ogni sessione, con un occhio sempre attento all'evoluzione delle monoposto.

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