The sixth round of the Ultimate Cup European Series 2024 season took place last weekend on the Circuit Paul Ricard. Players from the four championships gathered once again to battle it out for victories and the final titles at stake.
European Endurance Prototype Cup: victory for COGEMO, title for Graff
The final of the European Endurance Prototype Cup was just like the rest of the season: full of suspense. After four hours of incessant battles in the Var night, COGEMO N°154 won the NP02 class. Jesse Bouhet, Yohan Rossel and prototype rookie Marlon Hernandez rounded off 2024 with the best possible result. Faced with the formidable Gaël Julien, the rally driver held out perfectly in the final minutes of the race to claim his first success at the wheel of this car.
Second under the chequered flag, Eric Trouillet and Luis Sanjuan clinched the drivers' title. Well supported by Gaël Julien, the Graff N°9 pairing rounded off a year in which consistency was one of their watchwords. The withdrawal of James Winslow and John Corbett (Graff N°7) in the middle of the race obviously made their task easier. Their last opponent was Nicolas Maulini (Racing Spirit of Léman N°51), but Jacques Wolff's team-mate was never able to really put pressure on the championship leaders.
Pierre-Alexandre Provost was very quick in his final stint, enabling Christophe Cresp and MV2S Racing to finish third. ANS Motorsport N°71 (Marc Faggionato, Karen Gaillard, Iko Segret) came close again. Jonathan Thomas and Thomas Imbourg (CD Sport N°5) completed the top-5.
Pedro Perino got the job done in LMP3, but it wasn't enough to win the title for the Portuguese driver. As at Magny-Cours, the N°34 driver went on to claim victory alongside Dane Arendsen and Romain Favre. Jacek Zielonka, Daniel Macia and Raphaël Narac (Team Virage N°88) finished second, but it was the N°1 drivers (Georgios Kolovos, Axel Gnos, Sacha Lehmann) who took the crown. Fifth place gave them the three points they needed to leapfrog their sister car in the championship. The N°24 TS Corse (Nathan Kumar, Francesco Simonazzi, Robert Visoiu) finished on the podium.
Ultimate GT Endurance Cup: Vinama by GET Speed wins 6-hour race
The Ultimate GT Endurance Cup season ended with a novelty: a 6-hour race, a first in the championship's history. The returning Vinama by GET Speed Mercedes was keen to repeat its success from Mugello. Ameerh Naran and Tom Jackson had a great long-distance duel with the defending champions, Team Visiom's N°1 Ferrari. Jean-Bernard Bouvet and Jean-Paul Pagny, alongside Romain Iannetta, lost out to their rivals.
Despite numerous problems at Vortex, a 2.0 finished on the podium in UCS1. Forced to spend long minutes in the pits to repair the left rear suspension after contact on the first lap, Sébastien Loeb and Olivier Gomez thought a good result was out of their reach. However, once back on track, the non-winning world rally champion and his team-mate put in a series of good stints to climb back up to third place in their class.
After Hockenheim, the GP Racing Team was back on the road to success. At the start, team newcomer Victor Bernier took the N°89 to the top of the standings. Gabriel Péméant, Loïc Teire and Anthony Beltoise then faced the N°7 of 2B Autosport (Hugo Chevalier, Romain Favre, Olivier Favre, Yann Penlou), the 2024 Porsche Cup champion. In a tense final stint, Victor Bernier held off Romain Favre's comeback to give his team victory. The N°901 Pro Sport Racing car (Steven Palette, Alex Hommerson, Simon Balcaen) led for a long time before suffering a puncture, but finished third.
In UCS3, Signatech Alpine's N°36 A110 GT4 EVO (Jim Pla, Julien Gilbert, Jean Mathieu Leandri) managed to finish the race and win its class. The UCS4 champions, the Espace Bienvenue BMW (Regis Rego De Sebes, Daniel Waszczinski, Benjamin Lessennes) finished in style. In UCS Light, the N°110 Alpine of Chazel Technologie Course (Felix Crepet, Guillaume Masset, Louka Desgranges) put an end to the hegemony of the N°19.
Ultimate GT Sprint Cup: Atzori finishes the job, the Mercedes AMG C63 DTM puts on a show
From the season opener to the final, Francesco Atzori never dropped his pace. In UCS1, the Italian won all eight races in which he took part. Class champion, the SR&R driver also claimed the scratch championship. Manfredi Ravetto's team also walked away with the trophy awarded to the best Ultimate Cavallino Tridente Cup team.
Lyle Schofield (SR&R) takes two titles. The Irishman validated his excellent year in UCS3 with a final race victory. In UCTC, he won the drivers' standings with team-mate Lourenço Monteiro.
In the Porsche Cup, a battle was brewing between the Vandewoestyne (2B Autosport) family. The younger César was a few units ahead of his elder Karl. The latter won the first race, but his brother followed suit in Race 2. With Karl back on top in his last race of the year, César's destiny was in his own hands. Unfortunately, the class leader was caught up in an accident just outside Turn 2. Forced to retire, the title was gone. Stéphane Perrin (Seb Lajoux Racing) took victory in Race 4.
Alexis Berthet (CMR) swept all before him in UCS2, but Alfredo Hernandez (BDR Competition Grupo Prom) became champion. In UCS4, Pierre Arraou's (Herrero Racing) consistency paved the way for him to be crowned class champion. In their first appearance in a Ligier JS2R, Nathan Pozmentier and content creator Raul Marchisio (DRIV'N) took the top step of the podium. Marine Pidoux (Speedcar) won the UCS Light classification. Speedcar was team champion.
Ultimate Formula Cup: Enzo Richer hits the target
On the strength of his 44.5-point championship lead and the absence of his great rival Juan Francisco Soldavini (Art-Line Virage), Enzo Richer arrived confidently in the Var. The Formula Motorsport driver knew that his three victories at Magny-Cours had been crucial to his championship hopes. If he couldn't prevent Adrien Closmenil (Winfield Racing) from winning Race 1, the Luxembourger only had to score 0.5 points to be champion. He put an end to the suspense in Race 2, once again finishing second behind team-mate Dylan Estre. Well on his way to celebrating his title with victory in the final race on Sunday morning, a problem in the middle of the race knocked him off the podium. Enzo Richer nevertheless finished in the top-3 behind Adrien Closmenil and Dylan Estre.
In the Gentleman's category, 2024 champion Frédéric Boillot (Race Motorsport) failed to win. Laurent Wutrich (Formula Motorsport) and Aubin-Robert Prince (Lamo Racing) won twice. Although he let Eric Vuagnat (Krafft Racing) take first place in Race 1, Alain Bucher went on to secure the FR2.0 ranking with his last two wins of the year.