Lance Stroll racks up penalties in disastrous GT racing debut

Written by Owen Bradley

Credit: SRO / JEP - SRO GT World Challenge

Aston Martin F1 driver, Lance Stroll, made his GT racing debut at the opening round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe. However, the Canadian unfortunately finished 12 laps down, and was the last person across the line.

Stroll decided to make a surprise appearance at the opening round of the 2026 GTWC season in Paul Ricard, alongside former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya.

Coming in to the event, Stroll stated: "It’s very competitive, but even if it’s our first time and we lack experience, if everything comes together – good setup, good feeling – winning is possible. That doesn’t really exist in Formula 1. That’s also a big motivation for me to be here."

However, unfortunately for the F1 star, the team picked up 465-seconds worth of penalties due to track limits excursions, ignoring blue flags and causing a collision. Stroll himself was responsible for receiving a 1-minute penalty for ignoring blue flags, and an additional 115-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Credit: SRO / JEP - SRO GT World Challenge

Earlier in the race, Boya hit the No.50 Ferrari, leading to the team receiving a stop and go penalty. Roberto Merhi managed to receive five separate 30-second penalties due to ignoring blue flags, and two separate penalties due to track limits. Merhi's stint put the No.18 Comtoyou Aston Martin squad multiple laps down after starting from 15th.

Before taking the wheel of the No.18 Aston Martin, and after they had already been hit with a plethora of penalties, Stroll said: "It's been an experience. We've had a bit of an eventful evening, a few issues out there. I got together with some friends and we put a car together and had some fun this weekend, so it's been cool."

However, despite the multitude of problems for Stroll and the team, the Canadian F1 driver's fastest lap time was a 1:55.213, just half a second off the fastest lap of the race.

Credit: SRO / JEP - SRO GT World Challenge

Despite the more famous Aston Martin driver line-up ending up in 48th position, their No.007 Aston Martin entry won the race after snatching the lead in the final 10 minutes, despite the No.48 Mercedes dominating proceedings for the majority of the race.

Unfortunately for Stroll, the additional race in the GT World Challenge has only added to his struggles this season with Aston Martin. Although, this may not be the end for Stroll's sportscar ventures, with the F1 driver eyeing future GT racing appearances, similar to four-time champion Max Verstappen, who was also in attendance at the GTWC in Paul Ricard, despite not getting behind the wheel.

Speaking about future sportscar racing opportunities, Stroll stated: "If I feel good physically and mentally, yes — I’d like to do more races during the year.”

This comes after Verstappen's announcement that he will be racing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours next month with the No.3 Winward Racing Mercedes team.