Paul Ricard Friday Notebook

***Jules Gounon led Pre-Qualifying for the Paul Ricard 1000km with a time of 1:53.783 in the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3. It ensured that Mercedes-AMGs topped both full-field sessions on Friday after GetSpeed’s Maro Engel paced Free Practice.

***Gounon’s leading time, which is the fastest lap of the weekend so far, was just over half a second quicker than the next-best effort from Barwell Motorsport Pro-Am Lamborghini driver Dennis Lind. Lorenzo Ferrari was third in the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG. Results

***Dorian Boccolacci crashed the No. 22 CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R to bring out the only red flag of Pre-Qualifying just 15 minutes into the session. The French team’s additional Porsche for Paul Ricard didn’t return to the track after the incident at Turn 11.

***Neil Verhagen claimed five real-world points for ROWE Racing in the combined GTWC Europe teams’ standings by winning Saturday’s Fanatec Esports GT Pro Series race. The BMW factory driver successfully defended from K-PAX Racing’s Sandy Mitchell over the second half to secure the win. Dries Vanthoor took third for WRT, while Fabrizio Crestani won in Silver Cup. Results

***Lucas Legeret has joined CSA Racing in a late driver change, replacing Igor Walilko in the French team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Legeret, who won the 3 Hours of Hockenheim overall with Sainteloc Junior Team last year, will team up with Arthur Rougier and Erwin Creed in Bronze Cup.

***Valentino Rossi said that it’s yet to be decided if he will take the opening stint for Team WRT’s No. 46 entry, as was the case last year. The former MotoGP star completed his double stint before the race turned into darkness. “We will decide on the strategy tomorrow morning, depending on the lap time and the pace,” Rossi told Sportscar365.

***Rossi added that his first GTWC Europe podium in the second Sprint Cup race at Brands Hatch was a key moment in his time with WRT. “It’s important because the podium is always great fun, and the target,” he said. “Now we have to try to arrive on the podium in the Endurance series.”

***The Italian was initially perplexed to learn that he would be doing Road to Le Mans alongside Jerome Policand, the team principal of WRT’s rival outfit Akkodis ASP: “The first time that Vincent said to me, ‘you race with the team manager of Mercedes,’ I said, ‘Is that a joke? I trust you Vincent, because I don’t know him.’ But I was with him for 10 minutes and he’s a very good guy and is already focused on the race.”

***Policand completed 22 laps in the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 on Friday morning, after receiving dispensation to take part in the Bronze test despite not being a GTWC Europe competitor.

***Miguel Ramos set the fastest lap of the Bronze test, posting a time of 1:55.829 in the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo. Sky-Tempesta Racing’s Jonathan Hui was second in another Garage 59-prepared McLaren, with Pure Rxcing Porsche driver Alex Malykhin third. Click here for results from the 60-minute Bronze session.

***The No. 11 Comtoyou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, which is entered in Pro, took part in the Bronze test following a request from the technical director. The ‘additional performance test’ was conducted with SRO Balance of Performance driver Frederic Vervisch, who races the same car in Endurance Cup.

***All three members of Leipert Motorsport’s Lamborghini lineup are also racing in the Italian manufacturer’s single-make Super Trofeo series this weekend. Kerong Li and Jean-Francois Brunot are sharing a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 while Brendon Leitch is competing solo.

***The McLaren Trophy is making its debut this weekend with a 16-car entry split evenly between Artura and 570S models that have been freed from GT4 regulation requirements. The inaugural series champion wins a drive in the McLaren Solus GT.

***Despite Mercedes-AMGs leading Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying, GetSpeed Performance team principal Adam Osieka reckons the Paul Ricard race could be a “difficult one” for the manufacturer. The French venue has previously been unkind to Mercedes-AMGs, which alongside Lamborghini is a notable absentee from the event’s eclectic honor roll standing at eight manufacturers.

***Osieka told Sportscar365: “If we can achieve a top five result it will be a good one. In the night, the turbo engines will be very strong. “For half of the race, they will have a lot of power and a good straight-line speed. This is what we are always missing a bit.”

***Garage 59 has so far been pleased with the new Evo kit from McLaren that has extended the lifespan of the 720S GT3. Team principal Andrew Kirkaldy told Sportscar365 that the upgrade package makes the car “more neutral” in terms of balance, removing some of the understeer that was previously felt by drivers.

***GTWC Europe organizer SRO Motorsports Group is now using cameras to monitor track limits breaches at Paul Ricard, in a new measure for this event. The on-video locations are the corners at each end of the Mistral Straight, as well as the Bendor left-hander and the final corner.

***Former FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 driver Thomas Laurent has joined this weekend’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe support series grid. The Frenchman is driving for Boutsen VDS in the Pro class.

***The Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH Pista – a track day version of the Italian constructor’s in-development LMH car – arrived in the paddock on Friday ahead of its GT1 Sports Club powered by Curbstone appearance. Michelotto test driver Marco Bonanomi will drive the ar in Sunday’s non-competitive track sessions.

***The track day version of the Tipo 6 is priced at €2.75 million ($2.945 million USD) according to an Isotta spokesperson.

***GTWC Europe’s regular commentators David Addison and John Watson are absent from the booth at Paul Ricard due to other commitments. Watson has been honored as Grand Marshal for the NTT IndyCar Series round in downtown Detroit, 41 years after he won the Formula 1 Grand Prix in the Michigan city.

***The English-language commentary team this weekend consists of Jake Sanson, Bruce Jones and McLaren factory driver Joe Osborne who is making his GTWC Europe broadcast debut. Osborne drove for Optimum Motorsport in the 2020 Endurance Cup season and represented JP Motorsport at Paul Ricard last year.

***Live YouTube coverage on GT World starts with qualifying on Saturday morning. The first of three 15-minute sessions is due to start at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. ET). The Paul Ricard 1000km gets underway at 6 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) and concludes at midnight local time.