Ferrari dominated at the Paul Ricard circuit at Le Castellet in the first round of the Le Mans Cup championship, with the 488 GT3s occupying the top five positions. Victory went to Iron Lynx no. 8 with Giacomo Piccini and Rino Mastronardi which made the best possible start to its title defence.
Always in command. The Iron Lynx pair were always in command. At the start, Mastronardi produced a series of fast laps, but the lead gained by the Italian driver was pegged back after just ten minutes due to a collision between two cars that led to a long outing for the Safety Car. When the race resumed, the Iron Lynx driver did well to re-establish the gap over his pursuers in the competitive GT3 class. After an hour of racing, Mastronardi passed the baton to Piccini who capitalised on his partner's lead by improving his time lap after lap.
It was a special day for the Piccini family: his brother, and teammate, Andrea, finished on the third step of the podium after a brilliant performance alongside Claudio Schiavoni. Sandwiched between the two Iron Lynx crews, Kessel Racing took second place with Paolo Ruberti and Murod Sultanov.
Fourth and fifth positions respectively went to the Ferrari 488 GT3s of British drivers Oliver Hancock and John Hartshorne, also of Kessel Racing, and the third Iron Lynx crew of Michelle Gatting and Deborah Mayer.
In contrast, Michael Broniszewski and David Perel of Kessel Racing were unlucky, forced to retire after 18 laps due to technical problems with the Polish driver at the wheel.
Next round. The second round of the Le Mans Cup will take place at the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps circuit on 8 August.