Lance Stroll’s brutal GT racing debut marred by eight minutes of penalties
Lance Stroll endured a disastrous GT World Challenge Europe debut at Paul Ricard.
Lance Stroll suffered a brutal welcome to the GT World Challenge Europe at Paul Ricard over the weekend.
With no F1 racing throughout April following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix double-header due to the Iran war, Stroll made the most of a free weekend to contest his debut outing in the series.
In a move that mirrored four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s recent extracurricular activities, Stroll made his debut in the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Paul Ricard 6 Hours.
However, it proved to be a weekend to forget on his return to sports car racing for Stroll, whose No.18 entry was classified 48th in the order following a late retirement from a race plagued by issues.
While Stroll has past experience driving the former French Grand Prix venue in F1 machinery, this was a totally different beast for the Canadian, who only contested the final part of the race which took part in the dark.
Technical issues had prevented Stroll from getting much experience driving the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO at night before the race started.
Stroll and team-mates Mari Boya and ex-F1 driver Roberto Merhi started 15th but had dropped to 38th in the order by the time Stroll got behind the wheel. Stroll posted the eighth-fastest lap of the race but was forced to retire the car when gearbox issues struck.
As well as technical issues, the No.18 Comtoyou Racing outfit entry received over eight minutes’ worth of penalties.
Boya picked up a stop-and-go penalty for causing a collision, while the No.18 car was also handed four minutes’ worth of penalties for ignoring blue flags. An additional three minutes and 40 seconds of penalties were for exceeding track limits.
Stroll racked up one minute of penalties for failing to respect blue flags and also copped 115 seconds’ worth of penalties for repeated track limits offences.
Stroll has previously contested the 2016 and 2018 editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The sister No.7 Comtoyou Racing entry claimed victory with Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim behind the wheel.
The Team Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Daniel Juncadella, Chris Lulham and Jules Gounon finished ninth overall.
Verstappen will team up with Juncadella, Gounon and Lucas Auer when he makes his debut at the Nurburgring 24 Hours on 14-17 May.
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