+ Result, Free Practice, Circuit Paul Ricard
Gabriele Piana set the pace in the first official GT4 European Series session of 2026 at Circuit Paul Ricard, putting the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW M4 he shares with Thomas Rackle on top of the times.
Piana wasted no time at all in getting up to speed aboard the blue #12 BMW, with his fourth lap enough to move the car clear of its pursuers as Hendrik Still led the chase in the #32 W&S Motorsport Porsche, although he was 0.3s down on Piana’s benchmark.
Improvements after the opening few laps proved scarce as the sun beat down on the Circuit Paul Ricard track, with Gregory Guilvert and Paul Petit moving their #8 Team Speedcar Audi to within 0.2s of Piana, but they could not get any closer.
Still and his W&S team-mate Joachim Bölting held third overall, which was enough to keep them out front in the Pro-Am order.
Nathan Vanspringel and Erik Evans enjoyed a strong start to their new partnership aboard the #61 Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang, finishing the session in fourth ahead of an impressive debut from the new CRT-Sport team – the #87 GR Supra shared by Lucas Cartelle and Hudson Schwartz finished fifth fastest overall.
Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos were sixth in their NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG, ahead of Stefano D’Aste/Massimo Abbati (PB Racing Lotus Emira) and Enrico Förderer/Cedric Fuchs’ SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG.
Edvin Hellsten/Daniel Nilsson (Nova Racing Porsche) and Lachlan Evennett/Mees Houben (Speedy Motorsport GR Supra) completed the top 10. Julien Briche and Nicco Ferrarin were quickest in the Am class in their JSB Competition Porsche, ahead of Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen (GR Racing Sweden GR Supra) and Julien Rippert’s Team Speedcar Audi.
Free Practice 2 is set for 10:00 Saturday.