BMW Team WRT win the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard
- Aaron Carroll
- 15 hours ago
- 8 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll
BMW Team WRT No.32 driven by Charles Weerts, Ugo De Wilde and Kelvin Van Der Linde have won the GTWC (GT World Challenge) season opener under the light at the Circuit Paul Ricard
Before the race began, drivers set the grid in three 15 minute qualifying sessions on Saturday morning. The No.48 Mercedes-AMG MANN-FILTER 'Mamba' car took the overall pole, being joined on the front row by the sister No.17 GetSpeed Mercedes.
During the five hour break between qualifying and the race, the SRO (Stéphane Ratel Organisation) released an updated BoP (Balance of Performance) for the six hour event.
Mercedes and Lamborghini both saw a 10kg weight increase, with the Aston Martins being 15kg lighter. All other cars were unaffected, except Audi and Ferrari who received 10kg breaks.
The race began at 6pm local time and it was a relatively clean first lap, until the cars reached the final corner where the No.188 Bronze McLaren was spun around.
Up at the front though, the No.48 Mercedes led away with Maro Engel building a gap out front. The No.63 Lamborghini driven by Mirko Bortolotti took second place from the No.17 of Joules Gounon.
The No.21 Aston Martin had to come in early, as the bonnet came loose and was close to flying off. The ComToYou team replaced it as quickly as they could, but Nicolas Baert still came out of the pits a lap down.
Marvin Kirchhöfer in the No.59 Pro class McLaren had an issue selecting gears on the car, having to limp back to the pits. Meanwhile, the top four cars broke away from the rest, No.48 leading from No.63 and No.17, with the Gold class leading No.58 McLaren in tow.
The No.8 and No.74 Ferraris both had spins early, dropping down the order but no major damage for either to report.
Just over 20 minutes into the race, Dean MacDonald in the No.58 McLaren made a move on Gounon in the No.17 moving the Gold class car up to second, with MacDonald chasing Bortolotti. MacDonald was on a charge early in the race, getting up the inside of Bortolotti just 10 minutes after his move on Gounon.
Behind the front four, Ayhancan Güven in the No.22 Porsche had a train behind him. Güven was 8 tenths a lap slower than the leaders at one point. This caused some action behind, the No.163 Lamborghini, No.96 Porsche and No.111 McLaren all fighting for fifth position with Güven.
After an earlier issue, the No.59 McLaren parked up on the side of the 1.8km Mistral straight, bringing out the first full-course yellow (FCY) of the race. One or two cars down the order took the opportunity to pit under the FCY, but none of the leading crew came to pit lane. After a short FCY we went back to green flag racing, no need for a full Safety Car to bunch the entire pack up.
45 minutes into the race, the leading pair of the No.48 and No.58 caught the back of the 59 car field. Before catching traffic MacDonald was slowly catching Engel, so the Englishman was looking for a gap through the traffic.
Soon after the No.59 stopped on the side of the road, yet another McLaren was stationary on the side of the track with mechanical issues. The No.5 Optimum car stopped in sector two, bringing out the second FCY.
As soon as the FCY was called, almost everyone dived into the pits. The top four were forced to stay out as the FCY was called after they had gone past pit entry. The cars who pit got about half of their stops done before the green flags waved again.
With just over an hour gone by a battle broke out between the No.48 and No.58, with both cars coming into the pits with exactly four hours remaining. There was a close moment between the two as MacDonald broke later and almost went into the back of Engel.
When the two came out they were behind the No.22 and No.96 Porsches who pit under the FCY and gained the advantage. Güven led from Müller after the first stops, with MacDonald behind, the Garage 59 team pulling off a speedy pit stop to jump the No.48 Mercedes.
Out of the pits, MacDonald hadn't lost any of his pace, getting past Müller for second, and Güven for the lead of the race. The move on Güven was extremely aggressive from the McLaren, as he and the Porsche went either side of a back marker. The back marker turned in, not seeing the McLaren and they made contact. No major damage was done however, the No.58 led.
There was a good battle for eighth between the No.98 ROWE BMW driven by Augusto Farfus and the No.51 Ferrari of Alessio Rovera. The BMW coming out on top, the pair not far behind the rest of the leading group.
As we neared the end of the second hour, cars began to come in for their second pit stops. Both of the leading Porsches, No.96 and No.22 came in alongside the No.32 WRT BMW, No.98 BMW and No.51 Ferrari. The rest of the leaders followed suit over the next five minutes, including the leading No.58 car. Louis Prette would take over that car.
The No.96 led, driven by Alessio Picariello, from the No.58 McLaren and the No.22 Porsche, with Klaus Bachler at the helm. The No.48 Mercedes driven by Matteo Cairoli sat in fourth with the No.32 WRT BMW of Charles Weerts in fifth. The gaps between the leaders had expanded at this point, but battles were still to be had.
As darkness fell over the track, the sixth placed No.17 Mercedes got a drive-through penalty with three hours and 50 minutes remaining for exceeding the maximum stint length on their opening stint.
20 minutes after their pit stops, the No.32 of Charles Weerts got past the No.22 Porsche for third place, the No.48 also looked for a way by. Cairoli struggled to get past and the No.51 Ferrari of Vincent Abril began to catch the pair.
The next move made in the lead group was by Weerts again, as he went up to second, past the No.58 McLaren of Louis Prette. Darkness had completely overtaken the track at this point in the race.
Matteo Cairoli in the No.48 car finally got past the No.22 Porsche, a move around the outside of Klaus Bachler through traffic. Meanwhile Charles Weerts continued to catch the leading No.96, the gap below four seconds as we edged towards pit stops once again.
The leaders came to pit lane for the third time as the fireworks display at turn three dazzled fans. Louis Prette in the No.58 McLaren came out of the pits worst off. Prette stalled the car coming out of the box, having to do a full reset of the engine, costing him at least 10 seconds.
After the halfway mark, the No.96 Porsche leads from the No.32 BMW now driven by Ugo De Wilde. The No.22 of Klaus Bachler was in third with the No.48 of Cairoli in fourth. Vincent Abril in the No.51 Ferrari rounded out the top five, with Prette in the No.58 dropping to sixth.
In the other classes, Prette still led Gold, with the No.60 VSR Lamborghini heading the silver class. In Bronze the No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari led the way after three hours.
The McLaren driver would soon pass Abril to get back into the top five, while the No.22 and No.48 also swapped positions. It was Cairoli in third, Bachler in fourth, Prette in fifth and Abril in sixth.
With two and a half hours remaining, the No.188 McLaren began to slow going down the Mistral straight, the driver doing a full reset just before he went into Siene corner. This didn't seem to work as Guilherme Oliveira had to limp back into the pits.
In a battle for seventh and eighth, Nicki Thiim in the No.7 ComToYou Aston Martin managed to keep Jesse Khron in the No.98 ROWE BMW behind. Khron would come back however, pulling a brilliant move around the outside, but Thiim fights back and goes ahead again.
The No.93 Ziggo Sport Bronze Ferrari recieved a one minute penalty for track limits infringements. This wasn't their first penalty for track limits either.
As we neared two hours to go, the No.32 of Ugo De Wilde began to close the gap to the No.96 car in the battle for the lead. De Wilde eventually caught Alessio Picariello just before both cars had to come into the pits.
Both cars came into and out of the pits in the same order, with Patric Niederhauser in the No.96 and Kelvin Van Der Linde in the No.32.
As the rest of the leaders had their pit stops, the No.58 McLaren stopped just as it was heading towards pit exit. The marshalls had to push the car back down the pit lane. Another issue for a McLaren.
Out of the pit stops, Van Der Linde began to chase Niederhauser and eventually passed him for the lead of the race. With an hour and 45 minutes remaning the No.32 WRT BMW led the race.
The No.48 Mercedes was in third with the No.7 Aston Martin sneaking into the top five after slowly climbing up the order during the course of the race.
With 90 minutes to go a battle for the lead broke out in Silver, the No.60 VSR Lamborghini that had lead most of the race to that point defending from the No.992 Paradine Competition BMW.
As the BMW took the lead in Silver with a move down the inside, the No.54 Dinamic GT Porsche was moving slowly down the Mistral straight, limping back to the pits with a mechanical issue. Mateo Llarena pulled that car off to the side of the track, bringing out a FCY.
Laurin Heinrich in the No.22 Porsche got past Lucas Auer in the No.48 Mercedes just before the FCY was called.
The FCY came out with 70 minutes remaining, meaning cars who pit under the yellow would not be able to finish the race without pitting again with the maximum stint length being 62 minutes.
Therefore none of the leaders took the opportunity to come into the pits, as the race went back to green flags. Soon after, the lead group did begin to pit for the final time, except the No.98 who did pit under the FCY, despite knowing they would need to pit again.
After most of the pit stops had been completed, the No.30 Silver cup WRT BMW stopped on track, bringing out the fourth FCY of the race. It was once again a short caution.
With 50 minutes left to race the No.32 WRT BMW led from the No.96 Porsche after a quick stop from the WRT crew. Laurin Heinrich in the No.22 Porsche sat in third, with Lucas Auer in the No.48 Mercedes in fourth and Mattia Drudi in the No.7 Aston Martin in fifth.
With just under 45 minutes remaining, the No.93 Ziggo Sport Ferrari received its 25th track limit warning, and with it a five minute stop-go penalty.
In the battle for the Gold cup win, the No.111 class leading McLaren got a 10 second penalty for track limits infringements. With 25 minutes left in the race Arthur Rougier was roughly 10 seconds, with both the No.777 WRT BMW and No.33 Verstappen.com Aston Martin giving chase.
With just 10 minutes remaining, the No.333 Lamborghini came to a stop on the side of the track, bringing out the races final FCY. The gaps were neutralised, and no one needed to pit save the No.98 BMW. Therefore - outside ROWE - no one will benefit from the caution.
Five minutes later the No.32 BMW Team WRT crossed the line to win the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard as it began to pour with rain, ahead of the No.96 Rutronik Porsche with the No.22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche completing the podium
The No.111 CSA Racing McLaren took victory in the Gold Cup. The No.992 Paradine Competition BMW took the win in Silver, with the No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari topping the Bronze Cup class.
A massive shower of rain arriving on the last lap throwing some drivers off, but coming to late to affect the result too much.
Race Results - Overall
1st No.32 WRT BMW
2nd No.96 Rutronik, Porsche
3rd No.22 Schumacher CLRT, Porsche
4th No.48 Mann Filter, Mercedes
5th No.7 ComToYou, Aston Martin
6th No.111 CSA, McLaren (Gold)
7th No.98 ROWE, BMW
8th No.34 Walkenhorst, Aston Martin
9th No.33 Verstappen.com, Aston Martin (Gold)
10th No.777 WRT, BMW (Gold)
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