GT World Challenge Europe Preview: Paul Ricard
- Marios Gantzoudis
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written by Marios Gantzoudis, Edited by Tarun Suresh
The 2026 GT World Challenge Europe season sets off this weekend at Paul Ricard with a 59-car grid packed with top-level talent ready to scramble for top honours.
Another landmark season looms on the horizon for the SRO-run GT World Challenge Europe championship, as everyone converges on French soil for the first round of the Endurance Cup and the season as a whole.
Paul Ricard is the season-opener for a third straight year, and after getting their testing mileage done in the official two days of testing (Prologue), the teams will line up for qualifying and the six-hour race that follows.
Entry list: Pro
As is tradition, the 59-car grid will be separated into four classes, these being Pro, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
The Pro class is once more filled with a massive amount of GT racing mainstays and big names, as 18 entries are ready to fight for the overall win.
The GT racing debut of Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Lance Stroll is undoubtedly going to draw the most eyes and media coverage, as the 27-year-old Canadian takes advantage of the one-month break in F1 action.
He will be joined by former F1 driver Roberto Merhi and Formula 2 and Aston Martin academy driver Mari Boya. The trio will be driving the No.18 Vantage GT3 entered by Comtoyou Racing.
Aside from that, a major driver making a full-time return to the series is MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who will drive his usual No.46 BMW M4 GT3 Evo for Team WRT with Max Hesse and Daniel Harper as teammates.
On the other side of the Team WRT garage, last year’s overall champions, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts, are ready to defend their triumph, with Jordan Pepper alongside them in the No.32 BMW.
Other notables include Verstappen Racing’s strong contender, as the No.3 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo will be driven by Daniel Juncadella, Chris Lulham and Jules Gounon, Mercedes AMG Team Mann-Filter’s No.48 entry with Bathurst 12 Hours winner Maro Engel, Lucas Auer and Luca Stolz behind the wheel, as well as Rutronik Racing’s No.96 entry, with Patrick Niederhauser, Marco Mapelli and Luca Engstler, in the all-new Lamborghini Temerario GT3.
Teams like Garage 59, Grasser Racing Team and AF Corse are expected to be in the mix for podium places.
Gold
Amongst the nine cars deep Gold class, ROWE Racing’s No.998 entry of GT racing debutant Tim Tranmitz, Ugo De Wilde and Jens Klingmann in the BMW M4 will certainly draw attention, as well as CSA Racing’s No.111 McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, with Simon Gachet, James Kell and Arthur Rougier sharing it.
The Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R No.10 entry, comprised of Gilles Magnus, Alessandro Ghiretti and Robin Knutsson and Garage 59’s No.58 McLaren, driven by Louis Prette, Tom Fleming and Benjamin Goethe, are also noteworthy.
Silver
The ever popular Silver class is stacked with entries, as 16 cars will battle for the class win, with last year’s class champions Aurelien Panis and Cesar Gazeau joined by American Anthony Bartone, driving the No.6 GetSpeed Team BartoneBros Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, as the obvious favourites.
Comtoyou Racing might have grabbed the headlines for Lance Stroll, but their No.21 Silver entry is a contender, with the talented Aston Martin academy graduate Kobe Pauwels joined by Oliver Söderström and Sébastien Baud.
Team WRT field a quite interesting Silver lineup for the No.30 entry, with Amaury Cordeel making his GT racing debut alongside Matisse Lismont and former TCR South America champion Ignacio Montenegro.
Bronze
16 Bronze class entries complete the 59-car field, with Kessel Racing’s Dennis Marschall and Dustin Blattner ready to defend their class title, driving the No.74 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo alongside Lorenzo Patrese.
Winward Racing is sure to be amongst the challengers for the class win, with their No.87 Mercedes entry of Marvin Dienst, Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov.
Paradine Competition is also expected to be a contender for the class win. The British team is fielding current BMW Hypercar driver Dries Vanthoor in the Bronze class alongside Britons Darren Leung and James Kellett.
Oman Racing by Century Motorsport’s No.42 BMW and Comtoyou Racing’s No.11 entries are also worthy to keep an eye on.
The track
A well known track for hosting the Formula 1 French Grand Prix 18 times between 1971 and 2022, Paul Ricard has become an endurance racing mainstay, making its 13th appearance on the GTWC Europe calendar.
A track used vastly for testing purposes by teams, its straights will make sure racing is as tight as ever.
Schedule
After the two days of testing (Prologue), which took place on April 8 and 9, the official track action will first begin on April 10, with the Bronze test, a session designed to allow Bronze-rated amateur drivers to familiarize themselves with the track and car, that will take place at 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT).
Following up is Free Practice 2 on 14:25 (12:25 GMT), which will see all cars make their last adjustments before the real action starts. On Saturday, April 11, Qualifying will take place on 12:05 (10:05 GMT), and the 6-hour race will start at 18:00 (16:00 GMT).
The race will be free to watch for everyone on the GTWorld YouTube channel, where you will also be able to enjoy some GT4 European Series action.
Comments