Extended Highlights | Circuit Paul Ricard 2026 | Race | GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS

The lights go green, we go racing, one or two being ever so brave, going over the white line on the outside of the circuit, going down towards Turn 1. But a good getaway is made by Goethe, who outdrags Engel, who comes back at him, but there's drama in the background, car in the wall already. Looks like it might be a Boots and VDS Porsche, and mayhem has broken out as cars bounce across the road. Others go off in avoidance, and there's a big, big lose in the middle of the package. One of the Garage 59 McLarens has gone around. I fear we're going to have to go safety car here. There's been one incident going into Turn 1, there's another incident coming out of Turn 1. Mauro Engel leads the way, and I'm fearful that it's Dean McDonald's McLaren that we have lost, with Benji Goethe in second place. Others going off the road and back on, using that sort of bypass, coming down towards Turn 4. But it's been a very, very dramatic start. So yeah, the front row, late to accelerate. Look in the background, cars are going left and right to try and find clear space. And then, there's going to be a Boots and Porsche, mid-shot, just going underneath the camera. And as the cars get towards Turn 1, look towards the right of the screen. Suddenly, there's going to be a car that seems to go 90 right. Sorry, 90 left, I should say, and bang into the wall. But glanced across the front of other cars as it went to the wall. There is Baptiste Moulin coming the other way into the barrier. And if you're in the middle of the pack, where do you go? Because there are cars now either side, and there's debris being flung out. You've got a huge chunk of bodywork being clipped. So, this is the second row car, isn't it? This is McDonald, who is off on the exit of Turn 2. We're seeing some chaos in the background. It's the CSA car, the Rover BMW, and the Com2U car, as well as Boyer. They sandwich into the CSA car. It's then fired into the Porsche. And then, that gets Jadon Kelly as well. We get roughed up there. That is going to be a penalty for me. Sorensen in the 7 car, into the back of us in the 59. So, I think the 007. But, yeah, look at the energy involved. You can see the Greystone car has hit the Porsche, but had nowhere to go. Maxime Martin is also on the attack for second place. Right, we're back racing then. So, the GT World Challenge Europe, powered by AWS Endurance Cup. Opener is green once more. Mauro Engel leads them away. Then, at the end of lap 6, down towards Turn 1. With a bit of breathing space over Benji Götze. Martin is third. Volfi Schunken there. Fifth is Sorensen. Frederik Scharnthorff is sixth. Calvin van der Linde in the BMW runs seventh. And, in eighth place, it is the Porsche of Bastien Bouste. Allianz Speedcar. And, it's all a lot tidier this time. Yeah, now they're strung out single file. Makes it slightly easier. Bouste looks like he's got some speed. He was already looking down the inside of van der Linde in the 32. Still clean as cars exit Turn 2. So, they wriggle their way then out of that 3-4-5 sequence. Down to the Virage du Camp. And then, back on the power for Turn 6. It's a long corner. So, you've got to be patient to just gently get back onto the ground. Giancordello seems to be struggling here. And, that Aston has got great straight-line performance. So, watch these cars now as they get onto Mistral. I think that green and yellow ContiU car is going to have a good chance to get past the Merck. Not only is the Aston on the move, but the Merck is not staying, is it? With the top three. Giancordello dropping back. And, now, look. Marco Sorensen gets a tow. That's going to give him another 10 km an hour or so. Up to 290 km an hour in a straight line. And, the Aston just breezes by. See you later. Onto the Mistral. They come, then. And, this battle down for 24th place. Simon Rijka is in the Audi. And, the BMW drops back, in fact, there. Because, Matisse-Lisemont loses out to Freddy Tomlinson. So, the McLaren really quick going onto the Mistral. That's the car with the damage. Look, you can see on the right front the little bit of bodywork sticking out to the side. There it is. And, back to attack comes the BMW. Matisse-Lisemont on the outside up to Signe. He goes through. And, also there, Ariel Levy in the Audi goes around the outside as well. So, is that bodywork acting as an airbrake? Or, is the McLaren just not good in a straight line? It's good at the corners. Tomlinson fights back. Mega move. Shows it down the inside. Side-to-side contact. All fair at the moment. Still going on. The Audi's going to lose traction on the kerb. It's still on the inside there. And, there's an Aston Martin and a Mercedes joining the party. We're just seeing a lot of slipstream. That Audi basically got a triple tow past the McLaren. And, now, Freddy Tomlinson needs to try and stop the rise. He got damage. I think rear left looked wobbly. Maybe that side-to-side contact has done something. And, there is Freddy Tomlinson's car then. So, with damage on that front right. He's heading for the pit lane. So, dramas into the pit lane he comes. And, it might, I'm afraid, be the start of a tough six hours from here on in. Yeah, it didn't look right straight away. And, we saw the contact. But, it was such slight damage. I can't believe it would have broken anything. But, it's actually the rear tow link too weak on that McLaren. And, it's definitely going to come in. And, they're going to have to inspect that quite quickly. Coffee box is that. What damage have you got? Front right suspension. Front right. Freddy Tomlinson talking to the team about damage to the suspension on the front right. So, we'd seen the damage. Body work. But, there was something more sinister. And, you'd seen, well, he dive-bombed into Lobose. Looked all right at that point. And, then, the contact was on the left-hand side of the car. So, but, in terms of championship points, gold is important for that Ferrari team. Over the timing line, they come. It's a very sensible comment. But, a racing driver is not sensible. And, I can tell from the body language of Scharnthorff's car, he is not thinking with your logic. He is fighting every single position, be it overall or class. And, Boos having a go on the outside line. And, while they squabble, that brings Kelvin van der Linde back into the pack. Doesn't it now? So, this for sixth, seventh, and eighth places. Scharnthorff defending from Boos. And, now, as Boos has got a bit stuck, that brings van der Linde a bit closer. Boos has another look to the inside line. Can't find a way through there. He's getting ever more committed. I hesitate to say desperate. But, the way that Boos is going now, there's a lot more energy and effort being put in because he wants to get past. He's had enough from the back of that Ferrari. Yeah, he knows that Scharnthorff's best hope here is to back him up to van der Linde. And, he's got to show that he's not going to do it. I said on my preview of the lap here at Ricciardo, it's a short break at Turn 3. It's 100 metres. So, there isn't really an overtaking. That's why I had the big breath inhale. Because you just don't see it work there. And, it looked like as soon as Boos tried it, he was like, I don't want to be here anymore. And, that's when you see contacts. It's when you're trying to get out of a move that can't be done. So, right now, race leader is on lap 15. Is this the change? Can Bastian Boos make the move up towards Siena? He's on the outside line. You're going to have to be brave to go all the way around the outside. And, also not open the door to van der Linde who is tucked up behind in 32 BMW. Scharnthorff, in fairness, is doing a really good job of hanging on to the place. He went wide here a lap ago. Does not go as wide on this lap. So, that means that still stuck behind him is Bastian Boos. Not this lap is the answer to the dive going into turn 5. This is 6. Ferrari just trying to escape the drone. Doing a very good job of keeping up with them. And, in fact, almost having a go at the BMWs. You ride atop Kelvin van der Linde who now, look, is right up behind Boos. The Ferrari's got away. And, it's van der Linde on the attack this time as they head up Mistral straight nose to tail. Bastian Boos versus Kelvin van der Linde. The BMW right under the rear wing of the 911. Boos hanging on to position. Scharnthorff getting away a little bit. But then, as the tow kicks in, they're back with him at the end of the straight. So, nose to tail. Ferrari, Porsche, BMW. Great battle. Really good. And, I was surprised the BMW wasn't able to get alongside that Porsche. Seemingly very strong in a straight line as well. So, that all bode well for them. You said you didn't want to throw me under the bus earlier who I thought was going to win. I'm going to go with Boos to be the winner. I think that 89-speed car looks fast. I think they're going to be there right at the end. And, there, a little bit of an incident between Giacomo Petrobelli. And, was that one of the paradigm BMWs? But, Scharnthorff goes wide out of Turn 2. And, this is Boos' chance. No, it's not his chance because he can't level in a straight line with the Ferrari. He slips back again. He looks on the outside more in hope than in anticipation. Trying to unsettle Scharnthorff who does go wide. He's up the kerb. And, now, Boos lines up for a go on the inside. Gets a face for the Ferrari. Frederic Scharnthorff clambers over the kerb. So does Boos. This is getting all very, very, very sketchy at times. But, you can see the commitment being put in. Scharnthorff is under massive pressure. Boos, massive attack. And, van der Linde just waiting for the opportunity to present. And, he, in turn, is being caught now by Valentino Rossi up in the 9th place in his BMW. Now, Boos under the rear wing of the Ferrari this time. He's much, much closer coming onto the Mistral straight than he was a lap ago. So, is this where Scharnthorff finally succumbs to Bastian Boos? Here comes the Porsche up on the outside. He's got the tone. Extra 10 kilometers an hour or so. The BMW trying to benefit from a double toe by positioning itself as Boos thinks about the outside. But, he's left the door open to van der Linde. He's got to suddenly close that door and lock it and bolt it. And, he does. And, Scharnthorff hangs on to 6th. Yeah, Paradigm is Darren Lund's team operated out of that global motorsport metropolis of Skegness by Simon Traeb. So, when he's not running Paradigm GT3 cars or Ginetta Juniors this year, he's a Formula 1 stock car racer of good skill in his own right. And, James Callick's about to dive up the inside there. Look at that look of the Anthony Bartone Mercedes AMG. Job done. That was very nice and incisive. Very efficient as well from a time loss perspective. That would be a few tenths of a second. It's the best way to get the move done. I think Bartone did a good job as well. Didn't fight it. Kind of rolled over and let the car come through on his inside. So, they both get away with not losing too much time. There's Boos to the inside of Scharnthorff. Job done. Finally. Finally, finally, finally. He's done it. Bastian Boos goes through on the inside at turn 6. So, he did that on pure bravery. No extra turbo boost or anything. So, Bastian goes through, gains the place. And now, van der Linde thinks, right, I need to get on with this myself. And right away, he's all over the back of Scharnthorff. He is about to discover what Boos found. Scharnthorff is hard to get past. Yeah, even harder when he's cutting the apex so hard. This is... They're done. They're well out of the running now. Bizarre, isn't it? For a team that's so well drilled normally to have a situation like that as the Sister Comp 2 entry gets up the inside. And there's contact. And that's going to turn around number 50 Ferrari of Sean Goliath. I think that was Murray Boyers, Aston, that did the deed. And that surely is going to get looked at. Yes. If you want an illustration of what a drive-through penalty is for contact, it's right there. And I expect the 18 car to get a drive-through in the next couple of laps. So, not a great lap for Aston Martin. One in the pits with a problem and one getting involved in an incident that might well come back to haunt. So, let's have another look at it. So, you can see Goliath is closing the door. And he's at the apex. And Murray Boyer will say, Well, I'm there. Where am I meant to go? Well, you're not on the circuit. And you haven't got level with the car. So, for me, he's just desperation trying to get the move done. Shame, because the 18 car that he shares with Lance Stroll has gone forward and has looked quick. So, the paradigm BMW leading in bronze. In silver, it is the Finn Fiebelhaus Mustang. In gold, it's still Benji Goethe's McLaren. And in the Pro Cup, Mauro Engel, the overall race leader. So, right now, we are into the second hour of the race. And that means that the teams are starting to think about pit stops. And also, not only do you need to think about your strategy, you do need to keep an eye, I guess, on the garages left and right. You don't want your car being hemmed in. As there, the BMW almost pushes the Mercedes along. And off the road, both of them go as they come onto the Mistral Straight. James Kellett trying to get past that Mercedes. I don't think that's a battle for position. But, he wants to get past. As a brand are going to start losing pace when the temperatures drop. They need to try and build gaps now. And hope there are no safety cars again. So, bunch up. And the Scott Noble Mercedes spins in the background at Senior. You saw the blue Mercedes suddenly swap ends and disappear. There it is. Off the road. Looks like it's fired up quickly. And he's trying to get going. There's a bit of a gap in three cars' time. And then he's got to get going. Not a nice place to try and rejoin. No, indeed. So, the American driver is on the move again. So, Scott Noble leaves the scene of the crime. Thankfully, no damage. Lots of run-off there up at Senior. Very busy battle pack going on here. 20th place at the moment. You've got that BMW, which is currently Amaury Caudille at the wheel of the car. One of many on this grid who was in the Asian Le Mans Series. For example, Dustin Blattner. It's getting really crowded here. Look, coming out of Senior. Carl's on the kerbs. Carl's up the inside. Tim Tramlitz is on the attack. In the purple and white BMW on the inside. And he's going to be able to vault a place, if not two. Yeah, great move from whatever happened at Senior to where we picked it up. But, yeah, Loke has made up a few places in that. He's kind of escaped that battle pack, which is the place you want to be when it's all kicking off there. And it looks like Malikin's looking like he's in a hurry. You can see the headlight flashing. The car stops at pit exit, yeah. It's the new Lamborghini, I think, isn't it? The retronic car has just stopped. And it's too far for the marshals to be able to recover it. That's going to be an awkward one. I think that's going to have to go to a full-course yellow. So the Porsche ready to strike. And we are getting reports from the pit lane that it is Thomas priming in the car. But I'm very, very surprised that the team haven't gone to race control to try to get that change on the driver ID because it's going to come back to haunt Martin through the traffic now. Three-star Mercedes. Three wide. It's going to be four. Gunnar trying to make it through. Oh, my God. He's done so well. And he manages to hang on to it. But look at the Porsche around the outside. There, the line speed Porsche had. The line's amount of the clear air through has gone priming. Gunnar's gone ahead of Martin. But that could have been horrific. I think, like for like, spinner there. That is 50 Ferrari. Lilouadou has lost it coming away from Le Bosse towards the Viroge de la Tour. From Bendor, that section of the circuit. So the car is on the move again. That yellow flag will be withdrawn. Lilouadou back into the race. There's your leader. There's Mauro Engel. There he is. Up against the wall. Doesn't look massively damaged. But to be that close, maybe there's been contact. Fourth in class he was before the drama. Trying to work out where he is in relation to the racetrack. He seems to be a long way off, doesn't he? The circuit is on the left of the screen as you look. Yeah, he's basically on the exit of two. And he's looped round on. He's done well to get reverse there. And he's going to get on the throttle. And luckily, he can kind of rejoin like he's on the motorway, hard shoulder. And there's a big gap there anyway. So doesn't look to be any legacy damage on that. So hopefully he can keep going. But that isn't something we've seen much with the 74 car. It's always been strong and kept out of trouble. He won't care about that. He's going to keep pushing forward to try and get the biggest gap possible in this silver class battle. Now look, the Mustang fighting back in a straight line. But goes to the outside. Kirby Pavels will defend. And he succeeds in defending. Hangs on to the plate. Or does he? No, the Mustang back up the inside. So Pavels may have led the class, but he did it from about a straight. And the Mustang back through. So Kirby Pavels is going to do it all over again. Good driving that by Eduardo Cosateng. Not taking it lying down at all. And here they come, overlapping them. Aston Martin versus Ford Mustang. Around the outside of the Mustang goes the Aston. Cosateng hangs on to it. Then he goes wide. And Pavels tries to squirt up the inside. This for the silver cup lead. Mustang versus Aston. Absolutely tied together. And not that far behind. Guillermo Oliveira in the McLaren. He's coming back at the pair of them. As Pavels again tries to go to the inside of the penultimate corner. He then needs to switch sides. But he's hung out to dry on the outside off the Virage DuPont. Yeah, the McLaren's right in the battle, isn't it? I think Pavels will feel like he's been a bit naive there. Leaving the door open into 10. I think he thought it was job done. He didn't appreciate the pace of the Ford. And he is going to lose a place, I think, to Oliveira in that option. McLaren is trying to get down the inside into Turn 1. Job done. Right. So, he was in the lead. He's back to third. So, real snakes and ladders, this. He's been shuffled back. So, Pavels on the attack. He's up alongside the McLaren for second in silver. Going down towards Turn 3. He's got the line. He's got the place. So, part of the job is done. Redone. He's back up into second. But he's got to catch the Mustang again. And then he's got to try and pass it. And then he's got to stay ahead. Yeah, we've got a Porsche as well. The dynamic car in the mix. It's not Ford position. But he needs to keep going there. Now, suddenly, the Ford has a gap again. And Kobi Pavels needs to settle the ship. It was a great original overtake. Translates into quite a healthy gap indeed. As you look there at Dan Harper trying to get through traffic. In the number 46 BMW that is in 12th place. Thomas Drouet is ahead of him on the road. And they're fighting for 11th spot. Side by side they go. BMW trying to make ground up all the while. It's actually the Ferrari, isn't it? Omoska getting past Harper. Oh, sorry. Forgive me. Yeah, you're right. I think Harper was actually compromised a bit with the run onto the straight. I think he'll be safe because he's got the inside line. But this is getting dicey. They're trying to take the side draft off each other. And end up touching quite a few times. He's done it. He has indeed. Nicely done. Out of Bendor and towards the Virage de la Tour they go. This is Dan Harper's view under the floodlights. A little bit more visibility. Brake lights of the Ferrari stab on ahead. What he wants is to try to dive bomb on the inside here. And he's going to have a go, is he? No, that is the Ferrari getting ahead of the Mustang. So that's one change of place. Omoska gets 11th off Drouet. Now Dan Harper comes to fight back. But look, Drouet in the grunt and go. Mustang is alongside. So over the timing line they go. But they broke the beam. Drouet was ahead by 24,000 to the second. And it all kicks off at Turn 1. Up the inside goes the Ferrari. Brakes late. Does he make the corner? He does. Good move by Omoska. Harper could get both of them here. They're falling over each other. This is going to be interesting. Omoska is so aggressive. If he goes right now, he's going to turn himself around. I thought that's what he's going to do to Harper as he comes across the front. He's going to try and send it around the outside. This is not going well. Contact is made. Ferrari spins. Harper avoids it. Tommaso Omoska off the road. Thomas Drouet survives. Also there, look, number two Porsche has gone through. That is Picariello who's picked off places. So Dan Harper actually has been delayed out of all of that because he had to go wide in avoidance. He's been slightly compromised. Big brain move from Dan Harper. How wide he went. Because he really anticipated how far Omoska was going to roll back. That just saved that car's race. You're right. He's lost time. But he has to roll out of the way. For me, Omoska's asking for this. It's now been a lap of driving too aggressively. And the Ford has just gone, where do you want me to go? And is understeered into him. Omoska will say, well, I'm there. The Ford has gone into me. I just think it would be interesting to see from the Ford's point of view what he could have done on board with Harper then. So he's getting squeezed in. Omoska swings, nearly takes Harper out. And then, I mean, the Mustang's on the apex. That's my first reaction is, where does Omoska want the Mustang to go? It could go either way on that one. That's my personal opinion. Happy to be told I'm wrong, David. I'm a bit worried about this 93 car. It's just stopped. I can see it from an onboard that it's not in the wall. But it hasn't moved for a long time. So I think we might be getting a full course yellow countdown. So we have to keep an eye on that. That would really spice the race up somewhat. I think we are going to get everyone through the rounds of pit stops. So at least you're not going to get that pitting under green. Yeah, I think we've had that already. There's the flag. There are the lights. We're back racing. So Lukasz Au goes through. Niki Thiem is 3.2 seconds back. So the gap in terms of time has certainly come down. But now Niki Thiem is going to get through the traffic as he does. So Lukasz Au could try and build that gap once again. 25 minutes to go. Pretty sure he's got past one car already. I think it was actually a sister car of him in the commentary you asked in. But at the moment all looking pretty for Lukasz Au. Everyone's made it through turns one and two as well. So far looking clean. Niki Thiem trying to get through the back markers any which way he can as they wriggle their way now up out of turn five. So 007 Aston trying to pounce on the traffic as they go onto the Mistral straight. So Lukasz Au within that first sector actually wasn't as quick as Niki Thiem. Niki was a tenth faster, oddly enough, despite the fact there was a bit of traffic around him. But not necessarily out of the woods because he's still got quick people around him. So although Picariello is trying to get past Calvin Van der Linde, he is certainly under attack from Marvin Kirchhoff as the leader goes by. And fastest lap of the race, Niki Thiem. He's got the gap down by nine tenths of a second. It's three seconds now with 19 minutes to go. Niki Thiem, lap 165. The fastest lap of the race. It's hot, isn't it? It's really hot. I think trying to get down the inside for BMW at turn two. Here's our leader. He'll be asking for the gap. He'll be asking, what's team doing? Which sector am I losing? What can I do? Everything now from a steady, easy win is going to be all in. You've got to go for it. Lukasz Au has still not got a single track limit warning. So Lukasz Au trying to cover off the inside line. Niki Thiem trying to go to the inside to make Lukasz dart around and perhaps open the door for him. And he's going to make a little mistake. You see Lukasz Au, he's going to go wide. He's off the road. He's way, way wide. Is that the opportunity for the Aston Martin? Let's see. They dive into the corner and he's gone by. Niki Thiem picks up the advantage. Delight at Com2U. Massive frustration at Wynwood. Team forces a mistake out of Lukasz Au. And this race now with eight minutes and 25 seconds to go is upside down. That was a big moment. I've seen you doing 220k's. I think you just hit too much of the apex curb. It popped up the Mercedes and you could see it land back down. Heavy sparks. That's taking grip away from the tyres now. Had to unwind the lock and run very, very wide. And Niki Thiem just kept on the track and drove away. I think that is day done and that is going to be a race lost after leading every single lap until the last six. Lukasz Au is going to be absolutely distraught, isn't he? Because not only has he lost the race, but he's also made a mistake but contributed towards it. You could argue Niki Thiem would have got him. Had it not been there, he would have done it somewhere else. But the car just never looked as strong, did it, on the resumption. Don't forget, Niki Thiem has come through all of that traffic and he's caught the Mercedes and then he's able to make the move. That was the moment that really undid it all for Lukasz Au. Way off the racetrack, Niki Thiem through into the lead of the race and now starting to get away. And this will be the last lap of the race. The clock has hit zero and Aston Martin, despite a puncture, heading for victory. Unless something trips up Niki Thiem on the last lap of the race. Niki's father, Kurt Thiem, a great touring car legend of the 80s and 90s. And Niki Thiem, well, we know how good he is. A Spa 24-hour winner, Danish Formula 4 champion, SEAT champion in Germany, Nürburgring 24 winner, Porsche Super Cup champion, class winner in the World Endurance Championship and a great character to boot. Yeah, it really is. And quite excited to see his celebration when he gets out of that car in the new victory area here at Puerto Rico. So on to the Mistral for the last time. Niki Thiem, 11 tenths up on Lukas Auer. The gap has fractionally extended, but only by thousands within the first sector. They're about to get to the end of sector two. When they go through, it'll break the beam. And Thiem to Auer, 30.4 the sector time for Niki Thiem, 30.2 for Lukas Auer. Again, it comes down a little, but even if you were to get on the back of the Aston with a third of a lap to go, it ain't going to happen. And this is a result that really has come out of nowhere. Yeah, they're going to go into a very happy Sunday, all of a sudden, aren't they? Yeah, and the next time a car has a problem and you confidently say, they're done, I'll remind you of this result, all right? I'm done. But it has been an amazing recovery and proof that you never give up. You never know what's around the corner. Yeah, you really do. And I think they were right that they got it out, but they were lucky, weren't they, when it happened. Yeah, yeah, true enough. And although Lukas Auer has stayed on the back of Niki Thiem, a race dominated by Mercedes is going to be won by Aston Martin. Marco Sorensen, Mathieu Drudy and Niki Thiem win the opening round of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup at Porica. Checkered flag is waved and a delighted Compu celebrate a victory that never really looked likely. But Mathieu Drudy said, it's Niki Thiem, we know he's crazy, he'll send it. Well, he did, and it worked, and they win by eight tenths of a second at the end of six hours of racing. Go hard or go home, it says on the back of his helmet. And that is definitely what has happened. He chose the former out of those two options, and fair play to everyone at the seven car there. They've dug deep and found the pace, and I think that new set of tyres maybe was the difference after that last safety car restart. A winning gold for Garage 59. Tom Fleming's McLaren comes home. A winning silver for Alexi Nesson is going to be a winning gold for the Luke Hanson-driven Porsche. But, yeah, it's been a long, long day for the teams, and Mario Engel congratulates the team on a job well done. But it will be fascinating to know just why Lukas Auer could not respond at the end. Let's have a look at the result then. A win for Mathieu Drudy, Marco Sorensen, and Niki Thiem ahead of Lukas Auer, Lukas Stolz, and Mario Engel. Third and winning gold, Tom Fleming, Louis Pret, and Benji Goethe. Fourth, Kelvin van der Linde, along with Jordan Pepper and Charles Weir. Fifth, Joseph Loeb, Dean MacDonald, and Marvin Kirchhofer. And sixth, Augusto Fafas, Jake Dennis, and Raffaele Martiello. If you head to 13th, you find the bronze winners, Riccardo Pera, Antares Au, and Luke Hartog. And silver success, 17th, Alexi Nessov, Alex Malikin, and Max Hofer. We started with 58 of them, and it was roundabout 39.40 that actually were still running at the chequered flag. Yeah, there were one or two incidents, but largely it seemed to be mechanical woes that did the people. Yeah, there weren't really any big car-to-car clashes, were there? It was the Ford and the Ferrari down at Turn 3, but both continued. And one of them kicked off at the start. Yeah, that genuinely just looked like a racing incident. It really kicked off the triple-five. CSA McLaren then got sort of pinstered innocently and then spun across the field, and it could have been a lot worse. True enough, yeah. This continued look all the way through that order. Of course, the one that really lost out, or the two, you could argue, Baptiste Moulin and Robin Knutson eliminated on that first lap, even before they got to the first corner. It happened on the straight. They never got into the left-handed bit at Turn 1. Yeah, they were both big hits. Luckily, both drivers walking away OK. That does a lot of damage for the teams to repair. And there the trophies come for the third-placed team, as Mathieu Braga from Pirelli presents to Louis Pret in the middle to Benji Goethe to Tom Fleming. The third-placed team and Garage 59 exorcising the demons of last year. Yeah, very efficiently as well. Last year, the cars were quick but unreliable. The season, in fairness, did build. Wins came in sprint and endurance. There, for second place, Mauro Engel, Lucas Stoltz, and the expressions say, well, yeah, these will do, but we really wanted the other ones, the ones with 1 written on them. And it was so close, wasn't it? It felt gutting to have Mauro Engel sat with us when we saw the 93 go off, get stuck, and you could see when we were talking to him, he tensed up. He knew what was coming. And maybe he knew that the Aston, on a safety car restart, had some serious pace. I still thought that the Mercedes was going to have enough in hand over what we'd seen. But, yeah, you know, that pace that we were looking at, as its best lap, was in much warmer conditions and it looks as though the temperature has hit yet again. I'm sure the gap would have carried on coming down, but, you know, you have to deal with the situation as it presents itself. Lucas Auer was being caught anyway. That mistake didn't help, but it certainly opened the door, didn't it, for the Aston and gave Nikita perhaps an easier ride than he expected. And there the trophies go to the winners. So it's been a tough period in between the Spa 24 victory and this. And the trophies and awards presented by Pirelli as well as by SRO. The champagne is sprayed, and at least this way the Mercedes drivers can get revenge.