Presentation
Alongside the GT3s, the GT4 European Series headed south of France for the second event of the season after Monza.
The GT4 Scandinavia series joined the grid again, after Spa-Francorchamps in 2022, bringing the total number of entries to 56!
Practices
Thursday afternoon was devoted to the four official practice sessions.
Friday saw the competitors take to the track for two free practice sessions of one hour each.
With 20 cars separated by less than a second during the first session, we could expect a second contested session
In silver, the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #7 from Mirage Racing by MB Performance driven by Romain Carton / Louis Meric took the best in 2:13.196.
5th overall and first in Pro-AM was Hendrik Still / Max Kronberg driving the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS
The AM class saw the #55 Alpine A110 GT4 EVO of the Autosport GP LS Group Performance of the Laurent Hurgon / Alain Ferte tandem set the best time.
The second free practice session saw, 20 minutes from the end, the passage of a summer rain shower, freezing the results.
The first 3 lines of the results sheet were taken by a member of each category
Racing Spirit of Léman's #74 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 driven by Victor Weyrich / Konstantin Lachenauer in the lead, ahead of another Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #72 driven by GPA Racing's Kévin Jimenez / Florent Grizaud registered in AM, the Pro-AM category, 3rd, was represented by the #20 EastSide Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT4 with Denis Bulatov / Lukas Mayer at the wheel.
Qualifying
On Saturday morning were scheduled the two qualifying sessions.
The first, marking the pole for race 1 of the afternoon, was dominated by Victor Weyrich in the #74 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 of Racing Spirit of Léman in 2:12.009.
Autosport GP LS Group Performance placed its #110 Alpine A110 GT4 EVO driven by Paul Cauhaupe on the other front row.
In 2:12.397, the BMW M4 GT4 G82 #2 of Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport, driven by Gabriele Piana, was awarded pole for Sunday's race, alongside the pole men of Q1.
Races
Race 1 got underway at 2:55 p.m., very quickly neutralized by the entry of the safety car following contact between the #67 Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Marc Lopez Gutierrez / Paul Petit du Sainteloc Junior Team and another Audi R8 LMS GT4 the #83 Team Speedcar of the Hugo Roch / Fabien Boeri duo at turn 8.
The competitors were released 19 minutes after the start, i.e. 6 minutes before the opening of the driver change window.
It was on this occasion that we realized that Racing Spirit of Léman had perfectly managed his pit stop, Konstantin Lachenauer left the pits just a few meters from his rivals Antoine Potty / Etienne Cheli on the Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO #8 from Xwift Racing Events sending the #74 to the top step of the podium.
The third step went to Benjamin Lariche / Robert Consani on Team Speedcar's other Audi R8 LMS GT4 #3.
In Pro-AM the victory went to Gregory Guilvert / Christophe Hamon Audi R8 LMS GT4 #42 Sainteloc Junior Team.
The Alpine A110 GT4 EVO #55 of the Autosport GP LS Group Performance of Laurent Hurgon / Alain Ferte wins the AM classification.
Sunday's race allowed the Antoine Potty / Etienne Cheli crew to take their revenge in a race that started in the dry and which, just after halfway and the change of drivers, ended in the deluge.
At the start the 53 cars got off to a good start behind the duo’s Michael Schrey / Gabriele Piana BMW #2 Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport.
At the change of pilot, the weather was still dry, threatening, but still dry.
From a little drizzle the rain is a thunderous downpour.
It was only a few minutes after the pitwool closed that the celestial floodgates opened.
Too late for the leading riders to consider changing tires.
The extraordinary return of Marc de Fulgencio Farre / Marcel Lenerz on the #4 Mercedes-AMG of BCMC Motorsport powered by EastSide Motorsport, which ended in a spin on the last lap, losing precious seconds that allowed these increasingly cautious opponents to cross the checker flag in the lead.
Pro-Am class victory for Antoine Leclerc / Loïc Villiger - #36 Alpine A110 GT4 EVO - Code Racing Development Alpine
Am class win for Alban Varutti, - #10 AVR-Avvatar - Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS
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