Monday Pit Stop #10
This year's GT World Challenge Europe got underway last weekend at Paul Ricard, for the first of 10 rounds featuring nine different prestigious manufacturers – most of whom use Pirelli tyres on the road as well as on their GT3 race cars. Although these cars are massively different, their tyres – the P Zero DHF – are all the same, and so is the overall performance, thanks to the Balance of Performance formula put in place by series promoters SRO to ensure that everyone competes on a level playing field. The teams have had recent experience of Paul Ricard thanks to the pre-season GT World Challenge Media Day, which also took place at the former home of the French Grand Prix.
The Rowe Racing BMW squad of Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper and Max Hesse emerged victorious from Sunday's three-hour race by just 13.5 seconds, after an action-packed encounter with eight different manufacturers in the final top 10 places.
The GT2 and GT4 series also got underway at Paul Ricard, with both series using Pirelli tyres. Maserati took a maiden GT2 win in Race 1, while the KTM X-Bow won Race 2. IN GT4, it was Aston Martin that emerged on top.
However, the car in front was often a Lamborghini – as the Italian manufacturer has signed a new deal for this year to be the GT World Challenge Europe Safety Car and Leading Car, with the Pirelli-equipped Huracan Tecnica.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the GT World Challenge America also got underway, at Sonoma Raceway in California, making it a busy weekend in the world of GT.
In off-road news, Verstappen has confirmed that he is making his gravel rally debut! Sensational news, but it's not the Japanese Grand Prix winner that we're talking about: instead his father Jos, who will contest the Severn Valley Rally in England on April 13.
Verstappen senior has 23 rally starts behind him to date since switching to rallying in 2022, and he's previously finished fourth in the Belgian Championship. But this will be the very first time he tackles loose surfaces – the ultimate test of bravery and car control – in his Skoda Fabia Rally 2.
Another name from the past returning to front-line competition is Lola – a legend in sports cars and single-seaters, with more than 500 wins to its name – which recently announced plans to enter Formula E from Season 11 next year in conjunction with Yamaha: best-known in the past for its exploits on two wheels.
In the World Rally Raid Championship, Nasser Al-Attiyah won the Rally Raid Portugal for Prodrive to surge into the championship lead, while Dakar winner Carlos Sainz – the former series leader – finished just off the podium.
