Back

Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup: The title fight hots up in France

The fourth round of the Michelin GT3 Le Mans cup will be held in France at the Circuit Paul Ricard on the 27th August. Thirteen cars will take the start of the French round representing 6 countries and 26 drivers. Diversity and quality will be once again the key elements of the two hour race that promises to be full of action and drama.

19/08/2016

No less than eight Ferrari will be on the starting grid at Le Castellet. The race winning n°72 Ferrari F488 of SMP Racing will have its usual all Russian driver line-up of Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaitar. Five Ferrari will race under the Italian flag including the n°51 AF Corse Ferrari F488, that currently stands fourth in the championship classification, driven by Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci. No doubt that they will try to score a podium in order to catch up with the n°88 Porsche 911 GT3R of Mentos Racing in 3^rd position. Klaus Bachler, who will be attending another event in Belgium, will be replaced by British driver Ben Barker at the wheel of the n°88 alongside Norway’s Egidio Perfetti.

The leader of the championship with 52 points, the n°34 TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 which finished third in Austria, will keep its line-up of Salih Yoluc from Turkey and Euan Hankey from the UK. The McLaren 650S n°55 of FFF Racing Team by ACM, 2^nd in the championship classification, will be driven by Japan’s Hiroshi Hamagushi and Britain’s Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. After three races they have scored 36 championship points, so at mid-season the battle is still really open for the title and it will be hard to predict who will stand on the podium on Saturday night.

Optimum Motorsport is a new entry of this round. The team will field an Audi R8 LMS, with British duo Flick Haigh and Joe Osborne at the wheel, with Haigh becoming the first woman driver to race in the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup.

Last, but not least, Classic and Modern Racing will be the only French team to race at the Circuit Paul Ricard track with their Ferrari F458 Italia and they will be hoping that home advantage will lead to a podium finish.

Action will begin on Friday 26^th August with two free practice sessions, followed by the qualification on the 27^th at 11:15. The green flag will be waved later the same day at 17:00 for the 2 hour race. There will be plenty of entertainment across all three days with free entry for all spectators, both young and old.

The qualification and the race will be stream live in the official website: www.gt3lemanscup.com

CLICK HERE to download the entry list.

CLICK HERE to download the timetable.