Circuit Paul Ricard stages exciting GT Open mid-season battle

Summer has broken up and holiday-makers are flocking to the Mediterranean coast, but before enjoying a well-deserved break, the International GT Open contenders will be racing in the fourth round of the season, at Circuit Paul Ricard.

They will be certainly welcomed by warm weather and a vacation atmosphere, but some serious business awaits them on track as the championship reaches the mid-season mark. With the fights as close as possible in all the standings and 34 cars entered, the show and the competition are guaranteed.

PRO: McLaren, Mercedes and Audi fight at the top

In the overall standings, three pairs are fighting at the top. Sam De Haan and Charlie Fagg, at the wheel of the Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S sit in the lead, with 66 points, only 3 units ahead of Diego Menchaca-Marcos Siebert, the Latin American pair driving the Mercedes of Motopark. Both duos are credited with one win, while Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase, at the wheel of the Eastalent Racing Audi R8 LMS, are more than a third in contention, only 12 points behind the lead and eager to conquer their maiden win.

Oregon Team did just that at the last round at the Hungaroring, and there is no doubt that Pierre Louis Chovet-Max Paul and Pietro Perolini-Daan Arrow will want to give more satisfaction to the Lamborghini camp. Another pair of young guns, Nicola Marinangeli- Riccardo Agostini, has also proven to be close to victory and in France, the AF Corse pair will drive for the first time the Ferrari 296.

In the Pro category, the Porsche 911 R entered by Lionspeed GP for Patrick Kolb and Richard Lietz, and the SPS Mercedes of Reece Barr-Mikaeel Pitamber, are also ready to go for top honors.

PRO-AM: The fiercest battlefield

No less than 15 cars are entered in the very competitive Pro-Am class, where five teams representing four brands, are at the top of the standings, covered by only 6 points. In the lead is the Ferrari 488 by AF Corse driven by Marco Pulcini and Eddie Cheever, the only ones to have won two races. Two points behind is the other 488 by Kessel Racing of the two Nicolòs, Rosi and Schirò, tied with Martin Kodrić in the Bonaldi Motorsport Lambo.

Four points from the top is the GetSpeed Mercedes of Steve Jans-Axel Blom, and two points further back, the reigning class champions, Marcin Jedliński-Karol Basz, now back at the wheel of Olimp Racing’s Audi R8 LMS.

Other key contenders for Pro-Am honours include Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler, the Swiss pair of the CBRX by SPS Mercedes, with one win in their pocket so far, the Mercedes of Team GT. There will be a slight change in the McLaren camp, as the 720S of Andrew Gilbert-Fran Rueda is now prepped by Optimum Motorsport, with Greystone GT continuing to enter the car of Stuart and Lewis Proctor.

Another father-and-son pair is debuting in France, their home soil, as Franck and Henri Dezoteux join the AF Corse Ferrari camp. Another new entry is a Mercedes AMG by GetSpeed for Australia’s Andres Latorre Canon and Britain’s Aaron Walker, while Frédéric Jousset-David Fumanelli are a strong pillar of Kessel Racing with their Ferrari 488.

The Pro-Am class sees two other Ferraris entered, the 296 of racingone for Omar Jackson- Axcil Jefferies and AF Corse’s 488 of Laurent de Meeus-Jamie Stanley, while Lamborghini’s representation is completed by the other Bonaldi Motorsport Huracan of Sanporn Jao-Javenil and Miloš Pavlović.

AM: Three tied at the top

In the Am class, the competition couldn’t be closer: three teams are tied at the top of the rankings, at 32 points! The Motopark Mercedes of Heiko Neumann-Timo Rumpfkeil have the slight advantage of two wins so far, one more than Giuseppe Cipriani, in the Lambo of Il Barone rampante, and the AF Corse Ferrari of Jean Claude Saada-Conrad Grunewald.

Two other contenders are only 3 points back; those are Ernst Kirchmayr-Philipp Baron (Baron Motorsport Ferrari) and Kiki San Nana-Adam Osieka (the latter fresh of a class win in the Spa 24 Hours), in the GetSpeed Mercedes.

The Prancing Horse is very well represented in the class, thanks to Jacob Schell-Stefan Aust (racingone), Stanislaw Jedliński-Krystian Korzeniowski (Olimp Racing), Murat Cuhadaroglu- Emanuele Tabacchi, back in the third Kessel Racing entry, and the AF Corse cars of Gino Forgione-Andrea Montermini and Alessandro Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto, who will take delivery of their new 296.

In the only Aston Martin entered, fielded by Street-Art Racing, Jahid Fazal Karim is back alongside Pascal Bachmann.

As customary, the GT Open and the GT Cup will share the race programme with its sister series, the GT Cup Europe, and the Euroformula Open. Fans will also enjoy top touring car excitement, thanks to the TCR Europe, and more single-seater action, with the Italian F4 Championship.