Paul Ricard Weekend Notebook

***The final version of the entry list for Saturday’s six-hour GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season opener at Paul Ricard has confirmed a change of class for the No. 111 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. The car, entered for Arthur Rougier, James Kell and Simon Gachet, has been moved from Pro to Gold Cup.

***Lucas Legeret has been named as a late addition to the No. 26 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, which competes in the Silver Cup category. Legeret will team up with Ivan Klymenko and Lorens Lecertua.

***The Paul Ricard round of the Endurance Cup returns to the traditional, six-hour format it has held for many years. Last year, the race ran to three hours after the Jeddah finale was made a six-hour race. The last edition of what has often been referred to as the Paul Ricard 1000km was won by Raffaele Marciello, Timur Boguslavskiy and Jules Gounon, who drove for Mercedes-AMG and Akkodis ASP Team at the time.

***Stefan Wendl, Mercedes-AMG’s head of customer racing, welcomed the return to the six-hour format, telling Sportscar365: “I think that’s part of the heritage of the series and I like to establish iconic races. This doesn’t mean necessarily to be a 24-hour race. Also this event, this part of the year gets warmer and friendly temperatures. This race event is quite short and very intense with sessions on Friday and then qualifying on Saturday morning. [Not much] preparation for such an important event and then starting the race in the [evening] going into the night. With the checkered flag at midnight, usually there’s a rooftop celebration after it. It’s a good environment.”

***Wendl indicated that Mercedes-AMG is closing in on the rollout of its next-generation GT3 challenger, which will take place in July at an unnamed Mercedes-Benz test track. While neither Wendl nor a Mercedes-AMG spokesperson could confirm the exact location, the brand is known to have a facility at Immendingen near the Swiss border.

***Additionally, Wendl confirmed that Mercedes-AMG is set to be represented by a pair of factory-supported cars in the top class at this year’s Nürburgring 24, which marks a 50 percent reduction compared to last year. The driver lineup will consist of the seven drivers that tackled the recent NLS opener (Ralf Aron, Lucas Auer, Adam Christodoulou, Mikael Grenier, Maro Engel, Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz) plus Fabian Schiller, with the exact composition of the crews to be confirmed. GetSpeed Performance will field the two cars.

***While contemporary GT3 machinery will take center stage at Paul Ricard, the ruleset’s older cars will be honoured at this weekend’s Goodwood Members Meeting in the U.K., where a 20-strong field of cars that raced between 2006 and 2012 will take part in demonstration runs on both Saturday and Sunday.

***Amongst the cars confirmed is the Audi R8 LMS Ultra that won the 2014 N24 in the hands of Christian Mamerow, Rene Rast, Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase. Notably, the Audi will be run at the event by Bronze Cup squad Lionspeed GP, with Haase reunited with the car for driving duties.

***In addition to the demonstration runs, the event will also feature a timed shootout featuring eight cars and a number of big name drivers including nine-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Genesis development driver Andre Lotterer, reigning N24 winner Frank Stippler, as well as Andy Priaulx, Phil Keen, Jake Hill and Andrew Jordan.

***Ricardo Feller, who also won last year’s N24 with Audi, is making his Porsche debut at Paul Ricard as part of Lionspeed’s Bronze Cup lineup, driving alongside Gabriel Rindone and Patrick Kolb.

***Feller told Sportscar365: “Everything is a bit new, but I like the way the team works. I really think they’re quite sorted out with good personnel on board. Me personally, I just want to get to know the car in race situations, which I think is quite nice here with the six hour race to start right away. To learn, take the most home which I can take and hopefully be on pace as soon as possible.”

***The pre-event stewards bulletin, issued on Thursday, has outlined a number of clarifications to the sporting regulations. For starters, a post-race drivetrough penalty will be converted to 40 seconds added to the elapsed time of the car, with a stop and go penalty set at 45 seconds plus the prescribed stop time for a similar situation.

***Furthermore, the minimum refueling time for all cars has been set at 43 seconds while the maximum time for a short fuel stop is three seconds. The maximum stint time is 61 minutes, which is extended to 66 minutes in case of a full course yellow and/or safety car.

***Jake Dennis is no longer a BMW factory driver, as confirmed by the Munich brand’s reveal of its full roster of works talent for the 2025 season issued earlier this week. The British racer rejoined last year amidst outings in GTWC Europe and the Italian GT Championship. He is one of four departures, with the exits of Maxime Martin, Bruno Spengler and Nick Yelloly confirmed previously.

***While Martin and Yelloly have found new factory driver roles with other manufacturers (Mercedes-AMG and Acura, respectively), Spengler has since taken on a new position as ‘Pilote Officiel’ for high-performance road car manufacturer Bugatti, a role which includes test and development work.

***Niels Wittich has remained in his position as race director for GTWC Europe. The German was first brought in to replace Alain Adam for the 6 Hours of Jeddah late last year. Wittich, who also formerly worked with DTM, served as the Formula 1 race director until November 2024.

***Attempto Racing switched to a spare car for the No. 66 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II after the car caught fire during Friday morning’s Bronze Test with team owner Arkin Aka telling Sportscar365 that a fuel pipe problem was the root cause of the issue. The work was completed in time for the crew to return to the track partway through Free Practice in the afternoon.

***The Bronze Test was led by Verstappen dot com Racing’s Chris Lulham, who posted a 1:54.151 at the wheel of the No. 33 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. The GT3 newcomer, who is Silver-rated by the FIA, was eligible to take part in the session due to his lack of experience at the track. RESULTS: Bronze Test

***SRO Motorsports Group has named Maserati as its new Official Cars Supplier for GTWC Europe. As part of the agreement with the Italian manufacturer, the Maserati GT2 Stradale will feature as the safety car for race events.

***Former McLaren driver Joe Osbourne has been named as the new co-commentator for GTWC Europe broadcasts by SRO, replacing John Watson and teaming up with David Addison. Watson stepped away after last year’s 6 Hours of Jeddah, while Osbourne previously also worked alongside Addison in the British GT Championship. Alexandra Legouix, meanwhile, joins the broadcast team as the pit lane reporter.

***The 60-minute Pre-Qualifying session is the final part of track action for GTWC Europe on Friday. Saturday’s running kicks off with qualifying at 11:50 a.m. CEST (5:50 a.m. EDT) before the six-hour race starts at 6 p.m. CEST (12:00 p.m. EDT). Both will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube channel.