Three-Way Tie for Championship Lead Ahead of 12H Paul Ricard

The 24H Series championship lead will be up for grabs at the Michelin 12H Paul Ricard next month, with three teams currently tied at the top of the standings.

Mercedes-AMG has locked out the top-three spots in the championship points tally, with a trio of its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos tied on 42 points after the first two rounds.

Both GetSpeed Team PCX Racing’s No. 28 machine and the sister GetSpeed Team JR286 entry will seek the overall lead of the championship in Paul Ricard.

So too will the No. 93 Ajith RedAnt Racing Mercedes-AMG of Tamil acting superstar Ajith Kumar.

The GT3 Pro-Am entered No. 93 car would have held the overall championship lead after the 12H Spa-Francorchamps, but the team lost its class win after a late-race penalty demoted it to second place.

The Paul Ricard grid will see a further three Mercedes-AMGs from MP Racing, Viper Niza Racing and GT3-Am points leaders HOFOR Racing.

Audi will be represented by six of its Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs. Championship contenders Sainteloc Junior Team return to the championship after being absent at Spa.

The No. 18 Sainteloc Audi took victory in the 12H Mugello season opener, and currently sits just two points short of the top three in the championship.

Juta Racing will make its debut in this year’s championship with a further two Audi R8s, alongside HAAS RT’s pair of full-season entries.

Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport are also set to return with its No. 69 Audi.

Last year’s winners Proton Competition return with the No. 73 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The reigning champions are currently eight points adrift of the championship lead.

Era Motorsport will seek to rebound after a challenging first two rounds. The No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo retired early last time out at Spa after a hefty crash for Dwight Merriman.

Full season entrants E2P Racing will campaign the sole Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo on the grid.

The 992 class is also hotly contested with an expected 11 entrants.

Championship leaders Mühlner Motorsport will be looking for a third consecutive victory of the season with its No. 921 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Title rivals RedCamel Jordans.nl will seek to chip away at Mühlner’s championship lead.

Back-to-back Pro-Am class winners QMMF by HRT Perfomance are also set to return at Paul Ricard in the No. 974 Porsche.

The GT4 Class will return to the championship with a singular entry in the form of Circuit Toys’ No. 444 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Dinamic Motorsport’s Maserati MC20 GT2 is expected to continue its fight with the No. 701 Vortex 2.0 after a luckless last outing at the 12H Mugello.

In a change from last year’s event, the 12H Paul Ricard will follow Creventic’s usual format of splitting the race across two days, with the first six hours kicking off on Saturday, followed by the second half of the event on Sunday.

The third round of the Michelin 24H Series kicks off on June 5-7 at Circuit Paul Ricard.