Weekend preview: Ultimate Cup recommences at Paul Ricard

The 2024 edition of the Ultimate Cup Series resumes at the Le Castellet track, where the previous year’s competition came to a close.

The French circuit of Paul Ricard will host the first round of the new Ultimate Cup Series season. The classification into GT Endurance and GT Sprint categories is set to continue for the current year. In the Endurance events the reigning champions Jean-Paul Pagny, Jean-Bernard Bouvet and David Hallyday will be at the start in the Visiom team’s number 1 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 on the hunt for a third consecutive title.

In the GT Sprint Cup, the competition unfolds across four 25-minute races, with three of these races taking place on Saturday: a format designed to reward drivers who demonstrate steadiness and consistency, posing challenges for those prone to errors. In the GT3 class, Francesco Atzori will be defending the title in the number 3 Ferrari 488 GT3 of the SR&R team, racing alongside Lorenzo Bontempelli. In the UGTX class, SR&R will be represented by three other cars on the track, driven by Aramis, Lorenzo Cossu, and the crew of Lyle Schofield and Francesco Coassin.

Introduced for the 2024 season is the new Cavallino Tridente Cup category reserved for Ferrari cars. 

The programme includes qualifying on Saturday for the four-hour Endurance race, which will get underway on Sunday at 8.25 a.m. For the Sprint race, qualifying will be on Friday with Race-1 at 5.30 p.m. On Saturday, Race-2 starts at 11.40 a.m., Race-3 at 3.10 p.m. and Race-4 at 6.10 p.m. The times indicated are local.