Lance Stroll made his long-awaited return to GT racing at the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe season, but the result on paper only tells part of the story.
Competing at Circuit Paul Ricard, the Canadian joined forces with Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya in the #18 Comtoyou Racing entry, piloting an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
It marked Stroll’s first appearance in GT machinery since 2018, and the six-hour endurance race proved to be a demanding reintroduction to the discipline. The trio qualified 15th, but a challenging race—complicated by multiple penalties—ultimately left them classified 48th at the finish.
In total, the #18 crew accumulated over eight minutes of penalties across the event. These included a stop-and-go sanction following contact involving Boya, additional time penalties for repeated blue flag infringements, and several track limits violations as the race unfolded into the night.
Stroll himself was accountable for a portion of those penalties, including infringements related to both blue flags and track limits. However, it would be overly simplistic to frame the weekend purely around those setbacks.
Amid the disruptions, Stroll’s lap times were competitive relative to some of the more experienced GT drivers on the grid, offering a reminder that adapting back to multi-class traffic and endurance racing procedures takes time, even for an established Formula 1 racer.
While the #18 entry endured a frustrating outing, there was at least success elsewhere in the garage, as Comtoyou Racing’s sister #7 car secured a dramatic late victory.
For Stroll, the final classification may not reflect it, but the weekend served as a valuable step back into GT competition.
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