Iron Lynx Takes Paul Ricard 1-2 as Rivals Encounter Trouble

Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco kept it clean to win the Paul Ricard 1000km and led home a one-two result for the Iron Lynx Ferrari squad.

The victorious No. 71 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 started from pole and bounced back from losing a few positions early on to control the final two hours of the six-hour race.

Fuoco took the midnight checkered flag 7.8 seconds ahead of his teammate Miguel Molina in the sister No. 51 Ferrari that also featured James Calado and Nicklas Nielsen.

Molina captured second by muscling his way around Jules Gounon’s No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo into the Signes right-hander shortly after a late restart.

Gounon settled for third alongside his Akkodis ASP co-drivers Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello, while the BMW Junior Team trio of Max Hesse, Dan Harper and Neil Verhagen took fourth.

The winning Iron Lynx Ferrari crew put together a clean race while several of their key competitors encountered setbacks.

Akkodis ASP lost ground with two stop-hold penalties totaling 15 seconds in the fourth hour, while WRT’s No. 32 Audi entry that won the Imola season-opener retired after Dries Vanthoor had contact with the Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG in hour five.

Emil Frey Racing’s No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo also dropped away after the organizers gave it a black flag in the final hour, forcing Mirko Bortolotti to pit for repairs to a faulty rear light that stemmed from puncture collateral.

Several Lamborghinis, including all three of the Emil Frey cars, and a handful of Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs were affected by left-rear tire issues throughout the race.

Serra started from pole and controlled the first few laps but was surprised by an excellent move around the outside from Dinamic Motorsport’s Klaus Bachler at Turn 7.

Bortolotti in the No. 63 Lamborghini and Marciello then also got past the No. 71 Ferrari, before setting their sights on Bachler’s Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Bortolotti seized the lead just before the half-hour mark, diving underneath Bachler into Virage du Pont, while Marciello moved up to second at the end of the stint.

That gave Emil Frey the advantage heading into the first pit stops, but the Lamborghini dropped to second by virtue of Akkodis ASP double-stinting its starting driver.

Marciello led from Jack Aitken, Bachler and Serra until the Porsche retired due to Bachler unluckily striking the Sky-Tempesta Mercedes-AMG which had spun in front of him, promoting Iron Lynx to third.

Serra ran several seconds away from the leading pair but his Ferrari was brought back into the mix by a safety car period after two hours, caused by Emil Frey Lamborghini driver Tuomas Tujula spinning wildly into the Signes barriers after a puncture.

The order remained the same after the safety car pit stops, with Juncadella leading for Akkodis ASP from Albert Costa in the No. 63 Lamborghini and Rigon for Ferrari.

The top three were close until the stops at the end of the third hour when Iron Lynx used Rigon’s strong lap times to overcut both Akkodis ASP and Emil Frey.

Iron Lynx controlled the race from there, with the Akkodis ASP penalties giving Rigon a 16-second advantage when he handed over to Fuoco with two hours to go.

The ASP Mercedes dropped to fourth early in the fifth hour as Emil Frey and WRT moved ahead, the latter due to Vanthoor passing Gounon to access the podium places.

But Vanthoor’s side-on contact with the Madpanda AMG through the second part of the Beausset double-right caused damage to the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II’s left-rear corner.

The gaps spaced out heading towards the last hour, with Fuoco leading comfortably and Costa running around 20 seconds clear of Gounon when a tire went down and he had to pit his Lamborghini for a replacement.

Fortunately, it came at the end of the stint, meaning that Bortolotti emerged right behind Gounon, but the subsequent black flag dropped Emil Frey down to sixth.

The cars to benefit were the ROWE-run BMW M4 GT3 from the Junior Team, and the No. 46 WRT Audi in which Valentino Rossi performed a starting double stint.

An issue with getting enough fuel into the Audi caused Rossi to pit twice at the end of his double, but Nico Mueller and Frederic Vervisch fought back for a top-five result.

The late safety car for Lucas Auer’s Winward Mercedes-AMG stopping at the beginning of the Mistral Straight cut Fuoco’s overall lead from half a minute to around six seconds, but Molina’s pressure on Gounon and several backmarkers paved the way for the winner.

Silver Cup class honors went to the No. 777 Al Manar Racing by HRT Mercedes-AMG driven by Axcil Jefferies, Al Faisal Al Zubair and Fabian Schiller in seventh overall.

Inception Racing won Gold Cup with its McLaren 720S GT3 and, like HRT, achieved a top 10 outright finish, while SPS Automotive Performance claimed victory in Pro-Am with a Mercedes-AMG.

RESULTS: Paul Ricard 1000km