•    GetSpeed Team PCX Racing Mercedes-AMG controls Paul Ricard qualifying 
•    Maro Engel smashes Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD lap record in superb session
•    All-Mercedes front row with Ajith RedAnt Racing an excellent second on grid
•    HOFOR Racing Mercedes on GT3 AM pole, Red Camel on top in 992 class
•    Weekend’s racing will be live at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube 

 GETSPEED TEAM PCX SICHERT SICH DIE POLE AUF DEM CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD - ENGEL BRICHT QUALIFIKATIONSREKORD

Paul Ricard, France (5 June 2026):
GT racing superstar Maro Engel set a new qualifying lap record for the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD at the Le Castellet track this afternoon, on his way to helping secure the GT3 pole position in round three of the Michelin 24H SERIES European Series for GetSpeed Team PCX Racing.

Along with team-mates Jordan Boisson and Benjamin Paque, the trio performed faultlessly in the No.28 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO to take pole just over two tenths of a second clear on aggregate times of fellow Mercedes-AMG squad Ajith RedAnt Racing with its drivers Ayrton and Yannick Redant, and Kobe de Breucker.

“It’s super good and we’re super happy”, reflected a very happy Paque straight after Q3, “Jordan did a good job in Q1, Maro did a fantastic job in Q2 and I finished the job in Q3. Overall, I’m super happy so let’s see tomorrow – we start on pole, we hope we’ll do a clean race to bring a big trophy home.”

Across three incredibly entertaining qualifying sessions, Sainteloc Junior Team’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Stephane Tribaudini, Elia Erhart and Pierre Kaffer secured third on the grid – a mere 0.039 seconds away from the front row. 

Last year’s race winners Proton Competition were fourth with Constantin Dressler, Manuel Lauck and Joel Sturm qualifying their Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) EVO, while HOFOR Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO earned GT3-AM class pole with drivers Alexander Prinz, Torsten Kratz and Maximilian Partl.

Red Camel-Jordans.nl achieved 992 pole with Fabian Danz, Luc and Rik Breukers qualifying the No.909 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992 I). The pole in 992-AM was taken by HRT Performance’s No.928 car of Jonathan Kearney, Steven Gambrell and James Kellett – the later particularly impressive.

Not Only Motorsport’s Ligier JS2 R of Filippo Tornaghi and Gino Rocchio dominated TCE-TCX, Vortex’s Julian Boillot, Alexandre De Bernardinis and Philippe Bonnel have GTX pole and Circuit Toys’ Johan de Rouw, Norbert Dekker, Olivier Huez have GT4 pole with the Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.

Proton Competition’s Dressler was on it from the outset in the Porsche 911 with a tremendous first lap of 2m02.579s. Dominic Ang and Oliver Campos also impressed in the Viper Niza Racing Mercedes and E2P Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO respectively, with Campos ultimately finishing Q1 third.

Into the final five minutes, Tribaudini moved into second for Sainteloc with a time of 2m02.757s in the No.18 Audi, and he then improved to a lap of 2m02.369s to go a couple of tenths faster than Dressler. Ayrton Redant was fourth in the Ajith RedAnt Mercedes, ahead of the Viper Niza and GetSpeed Team PCX Mercedes-AMG’s, the latter driven in Q1 by Boisson.

In session two, Lauck was the first to set a true quick lap with a time of 2m02.654s in the Proton Porsche. In next to no time, though, the times tumbled into the 2m01s bracket with Yannick Redant highly impressive and so too Engel and Jake Hill in the Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO.

Engel, though, underlined his prowess with two subsequent laps sub 2m01s – his quickest of 2m00.652s setting the new qualifying lap record. Redant moved the No.93 Mercedes to second on aggregate, 0.2 shy of the GetSpeed car, with Erhart ensuring Sainteloc was third from the Porsche.

Paque was in the hot-seat for GetSpeed into the decisive third session and he absolutely delivered, producing a best time of 2m00.900s to ensure outright and GT3-AM pole with a team aggregate of 2m01.657s. The battle for second on the grid, meanwhile, was ridiculously close.

De Breucker reeled off a best of 2m01.110s in the Ajith RedAnt Mercedes to seal a richly deserved front row slot, while a 2m01.139s from Kaffer wrapped-up third for Sainteloc ahead of Proton’s Sturm who lapped with a best of 2m01.073s. 

Conrad Tox Leveau was rapid straight out of the box in Q1 for Mühlner Motorsport, posting a lap of 2m08.474s on his first flyer to lead the way. Sebastien Lajoux held second in 992 in the No.888 car midway through the opening session, but Danz then leapt to the top of the pile on his first push lap.

Leveau responded to move back ahead by four tenths of a second, and then made another improvement – a time of 2m07.597s. Danz ended the session second, Lajoux was third and quickest in 992-AM by a tenth from Ahmed Al-Emadi for QMMF by HRT Performance.

Louis Perrot strapped in to the No.888 Seblajoux Racing car for Q2 and his opening effort was a blistering 2m05.900s – the fastest of 992 qualifying so far – which kept the car third on aggregate times, but within a tenth of pole. 

Soon after, Luc Breukers delivered a 2m06.189s lap for Red Camel which put the No.909 onto provisional pole half a tenth ahead of Mühlner – Joshua Bednarski taking Q2 in the No.921. In 992-AM, meanwhile, Gambrell hoisted the No.928 HRT car into second and fourth overall. 

Martin Rump took Q3 for Mühlner and produced a time of 2m06.213s as his first attempt, lifting the No.921 onto provisional pole by half a second. Antoine Leclerc for Orchid Racing Team moved the No.963 car into the top three, but Kellett was electrifying in the No.928 with a lap of 2m05.413s as his initial effort – rocketing to second overall and onto 992-AM provisional pole.

Red Camel’s Porsche entered the session later than the others, with Rik Breukers at the wheel, and his 2m05.614s moved the team back ahead of Mühlner by two tenths to take 992 pole. Kellett was still the quickest driver on track and he reduced his time to 2m05.259s to secure 992-AM class pole and third overall, from the Orchid Racing Team entry and No.888 Seblajoux car.

With single car entries this weekend in both GTX and GT4, those pole positions were obvious with the Vortex trio of Boillot, De Bernardini and Bonnel securing the former – Bonnel the quickest of the team-mates with a lap in Q3 of 2m09.644s. In the GT4 pole qualifying Circuit Toys Toyota, de Rouw was the quickest of the drivers with his lap of 2m16.427s in session one. 

Not Only Motorsport’s Tornaghi and Rocchio were incredibly closely matched, little more than 0.1 seconds between them, as they dominated TCE-TCX in the Ligier. asBest Racing’s SEAT Leon Cup racer starts second in class, Rafal Gieras, Steven Teirlinck and Pia Ohlsson qualifying the No.102.

The opening six hours of the Michelin 12H PAUL RICARD will get underway at 11.45 local time tomorrow, Saturday, 6 June. Following an overnight break, the concluding six hours of racing will start at 11.30 local time on Sunday, 7 June. All of the action will be streamed live online at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube – find the links for TV and live timing at www.24hseries.com