The Endurance Cup returns to the circuit Paul Ricard for the penultimate round of the season, as was the case in season two. Although the rain did not play a deciding factor in this race, there was still plenty of drama and some unexpected results to keep the championship excitement going into the last round. A new winner, teams falling out of championship contention and dramatic late-race penalties were all part of the 9h of Paul Ricard. This was certainly a race to remember and has set the championship up for a great finish. 

The Podium 

1st – #66 Team Fordzilla Lexus

The winner of the 9hs Paul Ricard was the #66 Team Fordzilla Lexus, who put on one of the best runs of the season. They started in eighteenth after qualifying but won the race by a ten-second margin when the flag was dropped. 

The team had a monstrous start to the race, gaining three places in the first lap of the race. This pace continued throughout the first stint, with the team taking advantage of the Lexus’ brilliant top speed. 

When the first pit stops were said and done, the team had rocketed themselves into sixth place and started to knock on the door of those top five spots. Before the halfway mark, the team made its way into the first of the top five spots, setting themselves up for their success later in the race. 

With only one and half hours remaining, the penalties struck the top two position holders. This became the blessing of the #66 Team Fordzilla Lexus team, who could now secure the win. 

This result has propelled the team into the third spot on the overall standings, after beating their equally impressive third-place result at Laguna Seca. The #66 Team Forzilla Lexus is definitely one to watch going into the final round 

2st – #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT

The team that came home in second place was the #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT Aston Martin, who has been the best performing team of the season so far. This weekend was no different than there others, placing them on the podium for the fourth race in a row. 

The team started off the weekend with a brilliant qualifying performance, putting the car on pole by less than a tenth. 

The #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT team then blitzed the start of the race, keeping a commanding control over the top spot for many hours of the race. However, deep into the race, an extremely unfortunate mistake of speeding in the pit lane cost the team the lead going into the second half. However, they regained the lead quickly and looked like they had control of the race once again.

Then in the final stage of the race, disaster struck once more as a penalty was handed to them. This then dropped the team out of the top spot and put them on the back foot with limited time left to make the positions back up. Even with this late stage penalty, the team climbed their way back into second place as the final few minutes counted down. 

The weekend looked to be on lock for the #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT team, but a few errors just let that win slip away from them. Despite this, the team goes into the final round with a thirty-two point lead and control over the championship. 

3rd – #73 Excel Racing By RennWelten 

The #73 Excel Racing By RennWelten Honda started off the weekend well, narrowly missing pole position by less than a tenth – only losing out to the #41 Aston in the middle sector. 

The first stage of the race wasn’t successful, as their race pace just couldn’t match the others behind, and the team fell to the fourth spot, with fifth place in their mirrors. As the darkness fell, the #73 Excel Racing By RennWelten Honda began to settle into their rhythm and started to put in the consistent laps needed. This was then rewarded approaching the middle phase of the race and the team took advantage of technical issues for other teams.

Moving into the final phase of the race, the team was hunted down by the #66 Fordzilla Racing Lexus and had their third-place taken away. This looked to be the end of their podium hopes, but then penalties from the leaders took the team into the second spot with just over one hour to go. The #73 Excel Racing By RennWelten battled hard to hold on to their second place, but the #41 Aston Martin that was battling pack through after their penalty just managed to snatch it away, leaving the team with the final podium spot.

Going into the final round, the team cannot fight for the series win, but they can surely put on another great showing and end on a high. 

Winners’ Interview 

Once the race had come to a close, the #66 Team Fordzilla Lexus, as expected, were as surprised as us all with their win at the 9h of Paul Ricard. Piffet highlighted they had a disappointing qualifying, but “knew we had a great race car” and was sure they could make progress in the race. 

The main success in the race was the “good first stint going to p7” which gave the team opportunities they needed to stay at the front. Piffet knew that luck played its part in their great victory, noting they “got lucky that some cars in front got penalties”. 

To top off the win, the Team Fordzilla Lexus are the first to put the Lexus RCF GT3 on the top spot in a top split race at SimGrid. This came as a surprise to Piffet, but stated he was “very happy, as the Lexus is the car I love the most in GT3” and was “super pleased to bring it to the top step of the podium”. 

As with all racers, as soon as this race was over, their mind was on the next race and was looking towards the final round at Misano. Piffet and the team “hope to have another strong performance at Misano to close out the Championship”. 

Standout Drives 

Despite the podium contenders grabbing the attention, there were still a number of drivers and teams that put on a display that should not be skipped over. 

The #166 Bito-SimRacing.de team is one of the drives that must be noted, especially as they took a car that endured a massive hit in performance at the Circuit Paul Ricard compared to their competitors. Despite starting in nineteenth spot, the lack of pace the Mercedes cars showed dropped the team back to the bottom end of the grid.

As the race moved into the second half, others started to make mistakes, but the #166 Mercedes team stayed consistent, and slowly climbed back through the field, almost reaching the top ten. However, a top ten was not not to be, and the team came home in thirteenth but were the top Mercedes. This result is definitely one to be admired and was the #166 Bito-SimRacing.de teams best result this season. 

Another team that climbed the field to finish well above any expectations was the #10 Deep Purple Bentley. The team had a qualifying result I’m sure they would like to forget, starting on the bottom row of the grid. However, the #10 Deep Purple team took this in their stride and drove as if they were challenging for the win. After the first two hours of the race, the team had climbed into the top twenty and showed no sign of letting up. From this point onwards, the team held their strength and kept their place well within the top twenty to finish in seventeenth place. They made some of the biggest position gains from start to end, making up seventeen places, and to add the icing to the cake the highest place Bentley of the whole race. 

Another brilliant drive from a team, who narrowly missed out on the final podium spot, was the #14 Unicorns of Love BMW. This team put in a stormer of a race, never for a moment losing touch with the front pack, and at times being the fastest car on the track. 

They started off well, qualifying in fourth, showing off their pace in the BMW M6 GT3. Despite not having the absolute best car, the team were always in the mix, driving a consistent race after taking an early race drive-through. This put them in the right place at the right time to capitalise on others errors and technical issues but they weren’t quite close enough to capitalise on the late #41 Astons penalty and narrowly missed out on a top-three result. Despite this, the team got their best result of the season and showing that they had the pace to race the top contenders in the race. 

Looking toward the finale

With a dramatic finish and a new winner for the season, this leaves the championship far from over. The #41 LADA Sport ROSNEFT team certainly still have a hold on the championship, but it’s not out of the question for the #121 Odox Motorsport team to capitalise on any errors from the #41. One of the biggest shocks from the race is that the #149 YAS HEAT team are now out of the championship contention due to DNF caused by technical issues. 
The next round is not one to miss and will be sure to bring out great racing from all the teams. The final battle for the championship is set to take place at the 3h of Misano on July 24th, so not long to wait for the action to get going again. If this is too long to wait for you to get your racing fix The SimGrid has a host of different races on offer in July that can all be found in This Month at SimGrid.