48 Cars Set for Pre-Season Test at Paul Ricard

A field of almost 50 GT3 cars will take part in this week’s official pre-season test for Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, according to the entry list.

The two-day event takes place at Circuit Paul Ricard on Tuesday and Wednesday, with seven hours of running available to teams on each day.

The 49-car entry includes reigning Endurance Cup champion Akkodis ASP, which is bringing a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, and Sprint Cup champion Team WRT which is now running BMW M4 GT3s.

Iron Lynx, which announced its driver lineups earlier on Monday, is one of seven teams testing the updated Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 along with K-PAX Racing, Grasser Racing Team, Barwell Motorsport, Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, AGS Events and GSM.

Ferrari’s Pro-class teams in Endurance and Sprint respectively, AF Corse and Emil Frey Racing, are both at Paul Ricard with the new Ferrari 296 GT3, although a pair of older-generation 488s will also appear on track courtesy of AF and ST Racing with Rinaldi.

Manthey Racing is set to field a new Porsche 911 GT3 R although the seven-time Nürburgring 24 winner has not yet stated whether it will enter GTWC Europe this year.

Other Porsche outfits include CLRT, the team run by 2021 Endurance Cup champion Come Ledogar, and 24H Series front-runner Pure Rxing with Herberth Motorsport.

Rutronik Racing is also at the test with Porsche’s latest Type-992 model. The former Audi squad recently confirmed that Thomas Preining, Dennis Olsen and Laurin Heinrich will share its Pro-class machine in Endurance Cup.

Huber Racing is set to support Dinamic GT’s two-car Porsche operation, meanwhile.

Boutsen VDS, Comtoyou Racing, Tresor by Attempto Racing, Sainteloc Junior Team and GT4 graduate CSA Racing are present at Paul Ricard with Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs.

Honda team Nova Race is bringing the Japanese manufacturer to the Sprint Cup this year, while Mercedes-AMG squad Theeba Motorsport is another series debutant.

There are also plenty of familiar names from the SRO paddock testing including ROWE Racing, Winward Racing, Haupt Racing Team and GetSpeed Performance.

JP Motorsport is notably absent from the Paul Ricard entry list despite having already announced a two-car program with McLaren in Sprint Cup.

Team owner Patryk Krupinski told Sportscar365 that the Polish squad did not receive its McLaren 720S GT3 Evo package in time to take part, but still plans to race in the series.

Optimum Motorsport and Garage 59, which also runs the Sky-Tempesta entry, are shown with the Evo version of McLaren’s GT3 challenger.