Lance Stroll GT3 debut: full results and race times

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, F1, Japan, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Lance Stroll GT3 debut: full results and race times

Lance Stroll attempted to get away from the F1 season

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Sunday 12 April 2026 20:58

Lance Stroll tried to get away from his F1 woes with the Aston Martin team, but faced another dismal weekend in GT3 on a penalty-hit evening.

Stroll took to the Circuit Paul Ricard for the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe, a six-hour race around the former home of the French Grand Prix.

But he and his No.18 Comtoyou Racing team picked up 12 penalties, and finished down in 48th position out of 49 who finished the race.

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The trio of Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Mattia Drudi claimed the win in their Aston Martin Vantage GT3, one of seven Aston Martin cars which entered the weekend's schedule.

They took the victory away from the No. 48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer, after a late safety car which bunched the field up when Engel and co had been dominating the race.

That put Stroll's No.18 team on the back foot, and after Merhi had picked up some more penalties, they eventually finished all the way down in 48th position, second last of all the remaining runners overall, and behind even the Gold, Silver and Bronze Cup runners.

Stroll himself performed well, however, putting in some very respectable lap times that were matching the top-10 runners around the Circuit Paul Ricard.

For Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Max Verstappen's GT3 racing team, Jules Gounon was struggling with food poisoning, but took on a mammoth second stint for the team, sounding increasingly ill over team radio.

That trio of Gounon, Chris Lulham and Daniel Juncadella finished ninth overall.

GT World Challenge Europe Results: Paul Ricard 2026

Paul Ricard Results
Position	Entry	Car	Laps/Time behind
1	No.7	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO	176 laps
2	No.48	Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO	+0.806
3	No.58	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	+4.447
4	No.32	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+10.776
5	No.59	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	+25.880
6	No.98	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+28.638
7	No.17	Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO	+29.437
8	No.111	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	+31.138
9	*No.3	Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO	+35.708
10	No.998	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+38.569
11	No.2	Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO	+2:15.209
12	**No.46	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+1.427 (behind 11th place)
13	No.97	Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO	+11.324 (behind 11th place)
14	No.51	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	+13.901 (behind 11th place)
15	No.84	Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II	+32.419 (behind 11th place)
16	No.71	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	+32.752 (behind 11th place)
17	No.9	Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO	+33.847 (behind 11th place)
18	No.30	BMW M4 GT3 EVO	+34.649 (behind 11th place)
19	No.50	Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO	+42.247 (behind 11th place)
20	No.21	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO	+42.737 (behind 11th place)
48	***No.18	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO	163 laps

* - Verstappen Racing trio of Juncadella, Gounon and Lulham. ** - Valentino Rossi's BMW, he raced alongside Daniel Harper and Max Hesse. *** - Lance Stroll's team, alongside Mari Boya and Roberto Merhi.

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Max Verstappen Aston Martin Lance Stroll