Inception Racing lead the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Gold Cup championship after win at Circuit Paul Ricard

The #7 Inception Racing 720S GT3 of Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Frederik Schandorff clinch first place in the competitive Gold Cup class and ninth overall at the Paul Ricard 1000km to take their first GT World Challenge Europe win and head into the top spot of the class standings.

Qualifying on Saturday morning consisted of three sessions, with the average time deciding the starting grid for the main event.

The team started from pole but was quickly overhauled by the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG as the race went green. The McLaren remained in the hunt with Brendan and Ollie at the wheel, retaking the lead before two-thirds distance and only briefly surrendering it to the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari.

Leading throughout the second half of the race, Frederik took over for the final two-hour run. The Danish driver was in scintillating form, moving up the order to add overall points to the squad’s class triumph.

The Circuit Paul Ricard contest represents the final Fanatec Endurance race before the marquee TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa (28-31 July). The team will head into the Blue Riband event as joint class leaders alongside Herberth Motorsport.

Ollie Millroy

“It was such an awesome feeling to win the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe 1000km of Paul Ricard. An absolutely flawless job from everyone in the team and my mega team-mates Brendan and Fred.

“To win a race like this is such a huge team effort so thank you to everyone at Optimum Motorsport and McLaren Customer Racing for putting together an incredible car, perfect strategy and textbook pit stops!”