Ferrari finished one-two in this evening's pre-qualifying session at Circuit Paul Ricard thanks to an impressive showing from the Iron Lynx squad.
A time of 1m54.328s put Antonio Fuoco on top in the #71 machine, 0.050s clear of James Calado in the sister #51 car. Both laps came during the first half of the 90-minute run, which began at 19.20 CEST and was staged in fading sunlight. As such, this was an important opportunity for teams and drivers to gather data ahead of tomorrow's six-hour race.
Nicky Catsburg showed excellent speed in the new BMW M4 to put ROWE Racing third overall, 0.236s shy of Fuoco's benchmark. Chris Mies was fourth in the #25 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi, followed by Kelvin van der Line in the similar #32 Team WRT machine that won last time out at Imola.
Sixth overall went to the leading Gold Cup entrant, Haupt Racing Team, which showed impressive pace with the #5 Mercedes-AMG. Arjun Maini was at the wheel to post a 1m54.735s, leaving the Indian driver within four tenths of Fuoco's best lap.
Attempto Racing led the Silver Cup classification with its #99 Audi. Nicolas Schöll delivered a 1m54.814 to place ninth overall. In Pro-Am, series newcomer Antonin Borgo put the CMR Bentley 11th overall with a 1m54.883s.
The serious competition takes place tomorrow, with qualifying at 11:30 and the six-hour race getting underway at 18:00. Both will air live across a variety of online platforms, including the GT World YouTube channel, with commentary in English, French, Italian and German.
