GTWCE: SMP Racing Wins At Paul Ricard As Pier Guidi Secures Endurance Cup Title

The #51 SMP Racing AF Corse Ferrari F488 GT3 crewed by Alessandro Pier Guidi, Tom Blomqvist and Côme Ledogar won the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km, the final round of the 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Endurance Cup. Pier Guidi took the chequered flag 1.69 second ahead of the  #12 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3-R of Matt Campbell, Patrick Pilet and Matthieu Jaminet.

Completing the overall podium positions was the #63 Orange 1 FFF Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo piloted by Dennis Lind, Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli.

Victory in the Silver Cup class went to the #78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini crewed by Patrick Kujala, Frederick Schandorff and Alex MacDowall with the #15 Tech 1 Racing Lexus RCF GT3 in second, the driving duties shared by Thomas Neubauar, Timothe Buret and Aurelien Panis. The #5 HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 completed the top three in class.

Class honours in the Pro-Am Cup category were taken by the #188 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 crewed by Alexander West, Chris Goodwin and Marvin Kirchhöfer with the #77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini finished second in class, driven by Leo Machitski and newly-crowned British GT champions Rob Collard and Sandy Mitchell.

The two-entry Am Cup class was won by Stephane Tribaudini, Phillipe Chatelet and Nicolas Missin driving the #188 CMR Bentley Continental GT3.

The overall victory of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari means that Alessandro Pier Guidi won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers title on 79 points with the GPX Racing trio of Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and Patrick Pilet in second on 65 points.

SMP Racing secured the Endurance Cup teams title on 80 points, 14 ahead of GPX Racing.

SMP Racing and SF Corse started the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km from the front row but slipped back during the opening hour as Giacomo Altoè in the #163 Emil Frey Lamborghini moved through the field into the lead. In the second hour, the lead was taken by the GPX Racing Porsche, the Dubai-based team extending its advantage to nearly 15 seconds.

The challenge of the #51 crew was not over, however, and Ledogar moved the Ferrari into P2 before handing over to Pier Guidi who set about chasing down Mathieu Jaminet in the #12 Porsche.

Pier Guidi was the last of the front-runners to stop and changed only two tyres, allowing the #51 car to emerge with a small advantage over Jaminet who had a full set of fresh rubber. Jaminet put pressure on the Italian driver all the way to the flag but was unable to find a way past, allowing the #51 Ferrari to win by less than two seconds.

The #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari led the Pro-Am Cup field away from pole position but Chris Froggatt was passed by Chris Goodwin’s #188 Aston Martin. Froggatt fought back and re-took the lead but ultimately slipped back.

As the six-hour contest entered the final two hours, Sandy Mitchell was at the wheel of #77 Lamborghini and chasing down Chris Goodwin in the #188 Aston Martin. The final driver changes were the deciding factor, however, with the #188 Aston Martin being handed over to Marvin Kirchhöfer who quickly caught and passed Leo Machitski in the #77 Lamborghini for the lead with 20 minutes remaining,

Victory for the #188 crew meant that Alexander West and Chris Goodwin were crowned Endurance Cup Pro-Am champions. 

The final international race of the 2020 SRO Motorsports Group calendar is the Kyalami 9 Hour on December 10 – 12, the season finale of the International GT Challenge.