Stroll’s GT Debut Crashes

Lance Stroll’s first GT World Challenge Europe race ended with his Aston Martin entry buried in 48th after a stack of penalties at Paul Ricard. (gt-world-challenge-europe.com, gpfans.com) Stroll shared Comtoyou Racing’s No. 18 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo with Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya in the six-hour Endurance Cup opener on Saturday, April 11. The trio had started 15th overall in a 59-car field and 11th in the Pro class. (gt-world-challenge-europe.com, gpfans.com, planetf1.com) The penalties totaled eight minutes and 25 seconds, with PlanetF1 reporting a stop-and-go for a collision caused by Boya plus sanctions for blue flags and track limits on Stroll’s side of the car. The official series noticeboard lists multiple steward decisions against No. 18 across the weekend. (planetf1.com, gt-world-challenge-europe.com) GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup races are multi-driver events, so one car’s result belongs to the whole crew rather than a single driver. That made No. 18’s weekend a team result, not a solo Stroll classification. (gt-world-challenge-europe.com, gt-world-challenge-europe.com) The outing came during Formula 1’s April break, after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were canceled, opening a gap in Stroll’s schedule. Crash reported that Stroll used that window to make his first GT3 start with Aston Martin-backed machinery. (crash.net, gpfans.com) The contrast inside Comtoyou Racing was sharp. The team’s No. 7 Aston Martin, driven by Mattia Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim, won the race after Thiim passed Lucas Auer with nine minutes left. (gt-world-challenge-europe.com, planetf1.com) Qualifying had offered a more ordinary baseline. Stroll’s best lap was a 1:54.472 in his segment, while Boya produced the No. 18 car’s quickest time at 1:53.676. (planetf1.com, planetf1.com) Stroll was not entering sports cars cold, but this was his first GT3 race. Crash noted that he previously ran the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2016 and 2018, finishing fifth overall in 2016. (crash.net) By the end of Saturday night, the headline number around No. 18 was not its grid spot or lap time but the steward tally. At Paul Ricard, Stroll’s GT3 debut became a result sheet dominated by penalties. (gt-world-challenge-europe.com, planetf1.com)