Dean MacDonald put his Garage 59 McLaren on top in Thursday's GT World Challenge powered by AWS test session at Magny-Cours. The Scottish driver set a 1m37.397s during the final few minutes of the two-hour run to displace Dani Juncadella (#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing) and provide a much-needed confidence boost for the British squad.
Garage 59 has struggled to match its 2025 Sprint Cup form thus far in '26, but MacDonald's effort suggests that Magny-Cours – a track at which the team won last year – could be the turning point. His time was 0.173s faster than Juncadella's previous benchmark.
The Verstappen Racing entry was followed by two more AMG GT3s. Kiern Jewiss (#222 2Seas Motorsport) was third overall and the best of the Bronze Cup runners, followed by class rival Marvin Dienst (#87 Winward Racing) who was just 0.066s adrift of the Englishman.
Dennis Marschall was fifth overall and third in Bronze at the wheel of the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Next came the #46 Team WRT BMW of Max Hesse and the #58 Garage 59 McLaren of Tom Fleming, who set the best time in the Gold Cup.
Title rivals Maro Engel (#48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG) and Charles Weerts (#32 Team WRT BMW) were eighth and ninth respectively, while Guilherme Oliveira completed the top 10 and led the Silver Cup in his Optimum Motorsport McLaren.
All of the 44 cars competing in this weekend's event were on track during the test. The Razoon Porsche, which was originally listed with no confirmed drivers, is not part of the final entry list. There will be two Free Practice sessions on Friday – the first at 13:30 and the second at 20:40 – both of which will run for 100 minutes.
Live coverage from Magny-Cours begins on Saturday afternoon with Qualifying 1 at 14:55 and continues for Race 1 (21:05). Sunday is live too, with Qualifying 2 at 10:50 and Race 2 at 15:30. As ever, the action will air live on the GT World YouTube channel.
> RESULT: Thursday Test