A great pre-summer event expected at Circuit Paul Ricard

The summer break is around the corner, but not yet for the International GT Open contenders, who before that will head to the Circuit Paul Ricard for the fifth round of the year. In Southern France, close to the coast, they will certainly find warm weather, a relaxed atmosphere, and a lot of fans among the holiday-makers, but also some serious business to do, as the season enters its second half and games are completely open.

The fast 5.842-km track in the Var department is one of the most demanding ones for men, machines, and tyres, always posing difficult set-up challenges. Keeping with the trend of previous events, no less than 35 cars are entered for the French round, and the fight in all classes starts to heat up.

PRO: FOUR IN 15 POINTS

Leading the overall standings is the SPS Mercedes of Mikaeel Pitamber and Dominik Baumann, with a 6-point advantage. The South African-Austrian pair has scored in every round and taken two poles and two podium finishes, but victory has eluded them narrowly on a couple of occasions and they will try to correct this in Frances. Second is another AMG, the one of Motopark, entrusted to Diego Menchaca-Marcos Siebert, who also seek their first success.

In third position, seven points from the lead is Alessio Deledda, at the wheel of the #10 Lamborghini by Oregon Team, who will be joined again by his regular teammate, Jordan Pepper. In fourth position, 15 points behind the leader but reducing the gap thanks to two recent wins, are Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase in the Eastalent Racing Audi.

All the 11 cars in the Pro class are potential winners. They include the other two Oregon Lambos, with Belgian star Amaury Bonduel partnering this time with Leonardo Pulcini and Artëm Petrov-Marzio Moretti, the Mercedes of Anthony Bartone-Fabian Schiller (GetSpeed) and Lukas Dunner-Lorenzo Fluxà (Motopark), the Car Collection Porsche of Gustaf Bergström- Nico Menzel and the Spirit of Race Ferrari of Nicola Marinangeli-Vincent Abril. Last but not least, Leipert Motorsport is back for a second appearance this year with its Lambo for Mark Wallenwein-Maciej Błażek.

PRO-AM: CHASING THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS

With 19 cars, the Pro-Am class continues to be the most well-attended and closely-fought, although reigning champions Marco Pulcini-Eddie Cheever, in their Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 have now extended their lead in the standings to 16 points, thanks to their double win in Hungary. Their most direct rival is the Olimp Racing Audi of Marcin Jedliński-Karol Basz, who won the double race at Spa, while the Motopark Mercedes of Morten Strømsted-Thomas Ikin is in third, 21 points behind and chasing its first race win.

The Ricard round will see Laurent De Meeus-Jamie Stanley (AF Corse Ferrari) and Andrey Borodin-Ollie Webb (Greystone GT McLaren), rejoining after missing one round, with the other Greystone car fielding again its regular father-and-son pair, Stewart and Lewis Proctor.

In the Ferrari camp, Giorgio Sernagiotto is back alongside Alessandro Cozzi in one of the AF Corse, which also fields Marcelo Hahn-Allam Khodair. Gino Forgione-Michele Rugolo (Spirit of Race), the racing one car of Ernst Kirchmayr-David Fumanelli, and Pellin Racing’s 488 with Thor Haugen-Paolo Ruberti in its second outing of the season complete the ranks of the Prancing Horse.

As usual, Porsche is represented by the two Car Collection 911R of ‘Hash’-Alex Fontana and Bashar Mardini-Tijmen van der Helm, and Audi has a second presence in the ISR car of Filip Salaquarda-Libor Milota.

There will be no less than six Mercedes in the class. Dexter Müller-Yannick Mettler (SPS) and Michael Blanchemain-Jim Pla (SVC) are series regulars, and so are Valentin Pierburg-Aaron Walker at GetSpeed, which fields for the second time this year the additional car of Ameerh Naran-Tom Jackson. An automotive entrepreneur, Naran will use the opportunity to showcase in the paddock the impressive new Vimana supercar.

Last but not least, Poland’s Good Speed Racing Team will make its anticipated debut in the series with an AMG for Piotr Wira and Daan Arrow.

Third in contention is the GetSpeed Mercedes of Kiki San Nana-Adam Osieka, ahead of the Olimp Racing Ferrari of Stanislaw Jedliński-Krystian Korzeniowski. There will be a fifth car in this round, a Ferrari 296 entered by AF Corse in the Cetilar colours for endurance expert Roberto Lacorte, who will be making his debut in the series.