•    Ferrari 296 GT3 of Dragon Racing takes superb GT3 pole by almost 0.5s
•    Axcil Jefferies, Khaled Al Marzouq and Ramez Azzam star for Dragon Racing
•    Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Red Ant Racing P2 on grid at Circuit Paul Ricard
•    SebLajoux Racing’s No.888 entry secures 992 class pole position 
•    Nova NP02 of Graff Racing on GTX pole on debut, Venture fastest in GT4 

 DRAGON RACING-FERRARI IN SOMMERHITZE AUF DER POLE BEI DEN MICHELIN 12H PAUL RICARD

Paul Ricard, France (4 July 2025):
Dragon Racing delivered a blistering performance at a red-hot Circuit Paul Ricard this afternoon during qualifying for the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD, the team’s Ferrari 296 GT3 securing a clear GT3 pole position on its first outing in the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series.

Rapid across all three qualifying sessions in the hands of Khaled Al Marzouq, Ramez Azzam and Axcil Jefferies, the No.98 Ferrari – which will also feature Xollie Letlaka in the race – was half a second clear with a combined average time of 2m03.292 seconds, to also secure GT3 PRO-AM pole.

“Everyone has done a great job, this is the first round we’re doing as Into Africa Racing with Dragon Racing so to come here and put it on pole is very nice”, said a very happy Jefferies, “My team-mates did mega, Khaled was great – his first time racing in Europe – and Ramez was amazing, they made it easy for me. Our car felt great in the high-speed corners, there we could kind of push, but the rest was to just do a clean lap. It’s a combined qualifying, so no egos here!” 

Second on the grid for tomorrow’s Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD, round four of the season, will be the No.93 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Red Ant Racing with a very strong performance from Kobe de Breucker and brothers Ayrton and Yannick Redant, delivering an average time of 2m03.789 seconds. They’ll be joined by Kenneth Heyer in the race.

Third in GT3 was the debuting TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Nico Bastien, Benjamin Paque, Jordan Boisson and Patrick Charlaix, which only missed out on the front row by five thousandths of a second. Fourth was another season debutant, Sainteloc Junior Team, with its Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart, Michael Doppelmayr, Ernst Inderbitzin and Philippe Chatelet.

Pole position in GT3-AM went the way of Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II piloted by Vasily Vladykin, Andrey Solukovtsev and David Pogosian. Away from GT3, SebLajoux Racing’s Paul Meijer, Carlos Rivas, Stephane Perrin and Sebastien Lajoux himself have the 992 and 992-AM class pole.

Graff Racing’s prototype Nova NP02 was the star of GTX in the hands of Eric Trouillet, Luis Sanjuan and Sebastien Page, while GT4 pole was earned by points leaders Venture with Matthew George and father and son Neville and Christopher Jones.

Oliver Campos set the pace and held provisional pole at the conclusion of the first GT3 session, a time of 2m03.390 seconds in the E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3. De Breucker was second quickest for Red Ant Racing, only 0.2 seconds shy, but he only had a similar cushion over the Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Viper Niza Racing’s Melvin Moh. Dragon’s Al Marzouq was fourth in Q1.

Going into qualifying two everything was to play for, the pole battle very finely balanced, but Azzam seriously impressed by hauling the Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 onto provisional pole with a time of 2m02.893 seconds – opening an advantage of three tenths of a second. Ayrton Redant kept the No.93 Mercedes in the fight in second while Antonio Sainero ended Q2 a provisional third for E2P. 

Sadly, for Viper Niza, the team’s strong challenge ended midway through the session when Dominic Ang hit the inside wall at Turn 10 – having initially run wide at the right-hander before spinning across the track. The damaged No.65 car concluded the session fifth overall, but had to miss Q3.

Some serious times were delivered from the outset of the decisive session three, where Jefferies built on the performance of his team-mates to keep overall pole and PRO-AM pole out of reach of anyone, his session best a time of 2m02.893 seconds. Yannick Redant ensured the No.93 Mercedes would start on the GT3 front-row.

Bastien showed his quality to elevate TFT Racing to third, his time of 2m02.804 seconds faster than Jefferies, while Kaffer helped Sainteloc to fourth. Klaus Bachler was expectedly electrifying, setting the quickest time of all on his last lap, 2m02.333 seconds, to place the Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) he shares with Manuel Lauck, Jorg Dreisow and Mark Wallenwein fifth. 

Graff Racing’s prototype Nova NP02 was largely dominant in the GTX class from the outset on its debut in the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series, heading the times in qualifying one in the hands of Page with a time of 2m06.480 seconds.

The team remained on provisional pole after session two with Sanjuan lapping with a best time of 2m06.252 seconds and then, in the third and final qualifying session for the GTX, 992 and GT4 cars, Eric Trouillet delivered a superb time of 2m05.871 seconds to ensure the Nova claimed a memorable GTX pole – fastest overall in the session – with an average of 2m06.201 seconds.

“It’s our first time for the team here, first time for the car in GTX, so that’s a great satisfaction”, said a delighted Page, “It’s very hot, but we are very pleased with the car – we had to change the car to fit the category but the three of us are very pleased with the result. The car is very well balanced, still a prototype so we have no ABS like the GT cars, I think it makes this very fun to drive.”

The No.703 Vortex 2.0 secured second fastest in GTX with an average time of 2m06.800 seconds, a strong showing from Arnaud Gomez in Q1, Tom Pieri in Q2 and then Olivier Gomez in the final qualifying run – which was red flagged with less than a minute to go due to a stranded car. Taking third in GTX was the No.701 Vortex 2.0 of Lionel Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel and Cyril Calmon.

There was drama for the 992 class title contenders Red Camel-Jordans.nl prior to qualifying, when a blown engine in practice meant the No.909 car had to miss the grid-determining sessions – but the team of Fabian Danz and Rik, Luc and Ivo Breukers is permitted to take the race start on Saturday.

Martin Rump put Muhlner Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) fastest in 992 in the opening qualifying session, setting a time of 2m07.778 seconds to hold an advantage of around 1.3 seconds over the Ajith Kumar Racing by Red Ant car of Fabian Duffieux.

Patric Niederhauser lit up the timing screens for Lionspeed GP from the outset of qualifying two, but the car wasn’t in the overall reckoning. In the battle for 992 pole position, Paul Meijer delivered a time of 2m07.045 seconds to haul the No.888 SebLajoux Racing car to the top of the average times just a couple of tenths ahead of Mathieu Detry in the Ajith Kumar racing entry.

Sebastien Lajoux himself took qualifying three in the No.888 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) and into the second half of the session he held provisional pole on average by three tenths, from the Muhlner car now piloted by Valters Zviedris. 

The session was actually red flagged with less than a minute on the clock, following a spin for the No.910 SebLajoux Racing entry, but the 992 order was already set with the sister No.888 car sealing 992 pole and the 992-AM class pole with an average time of 2m08.442 seconds. 

Muhlner Motorsport’s No.921 of Rump, Zviedris and Julian Hanses ended qualifying just 0.4 seconds shy in second, while Holmgaard Motorsport will start from third in 992 with drivers Patrick Steen Rasmussen, Magnus and Jonas Holmgaard and Marco Gersager. 

Venture’s Mercedes-AMG GT4 was dominant in the first couple of qualifying sessions, Christopher Jones and Matthew George respectively moving the No.421 car over 3.5 seconds clear of Hamofa Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4 EVO (G82). In Q3 Rob Verhoeven was able to close the gap in the BMW but the team, also including Mark and Kris Verhoeven, ended up 1.7 seconds adrift of Venture.

The non-stop Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD will begin at 10.00 local time tomorrow, Saturday, 5 July, with the entirety of the race able to be watched live at Creventic Motorsports TV via YouTube or through www.24hseries.com