Paul Ricard: Victory for BMW – Magnus wins the Gold class

The last step of the podium went to Mercedes (GetSpeed ​​​​​​​​#2 – Stolz, Schiller, Gounon) while Vincent Vosse’s troops were consoled by fourth place for Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi and Raffaele Marciello (BMW #46). Also in the top ten: Pro-Aston Martin of Comtoyou Racing (#007 – Drudi, Sorensen, Thiim) in P7 and the new Ford Mustang GT3 of Frédéric Vervisch, Christopher Mies and Dennis Olsen in P10. As always, our colleague climbed the ranks very strongly and was able to rise quickly from 18th place to the top ten.

Another good performance was that of Gilles Magnus in the Saintéloc Audi #25. He climbed together with the Frenchmen Jim Pla and Paul Evrard to thirteenth place overall, but above all, a good victory in the Gold class: “There are not many participants in Gold, but the quality is there. I climbed the last class. it was really not easy , it came down to ‘managing’ everything well.

Louis Machiels and son Jef finished 23rd with Andrea Bertolini (AF Corse Ferrari #52) and were also awarded a podium place. They came second in the Bronze Cup, ahead of the Comtoyou Aston Martin #11 of Kobe Pauwels, John De Wilde and Job Van Uitert, who were also allowed to take the podium. It was a tough race for the other Comtoyou Racing Aston Martins, with a 41st place for the #21 (Sam Dejonghe, Matisse Lismont and Charles Clark) and a 46th place for the #12 (Nicolas Baert, Esteban Muth and Sebastian Ogaard).

Also among the unlucky: Ugo De Wilde, who had to retire in Saintéloc Audi #26, and as mentioned before, one of the favorites, WRT BMW #32. Charles Weerts had a flat tire at the opening, which caused so much damage to the left rear that the BMW was parked in the pit box early. Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon Van der Linde did not get close to driving today.

Photo: Geert Franquet & Arne Simons