R-ace GP’s #85 Duqueine D09 claimed a dominant victory to open its 2026 Le Mans Cup campaign tonight at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya. The 2025 championship-winning team’s pole-sitting duo, Danial Frost and Enzo Peugeot, were faultless, winning the race by a comfortable margin.
“At the start, we were in clear air, I kept my car inside, protected the lead, was still in one piece and we pushed on,” said Frost. “We were able to push. Pole and the race win is a very strong start for us.”
It looked set to be the absolute dream start for the French team, with a 1-2 finish appearing certain until the closing laps. But 23Events Racing’s Colin Queen had other ideas, charging through the pack from outside the top three to take second and finish just eight seconds off the winning Duqueine.
R-ace GP’s sister #86 Duqueine held on to claim third, securing a double podium, with Brutal Fish Camps Racing’s sole-surviving #19 Ligier just missing out on silverware in fourth. The #29 Forestier Racing Ligier completed the top five.
The clean run from R-ace GP’s winning drivers stood in stark contrast to many in the field, as the race was littered with incidents from the first lap onwards. The first half of the race, in particular, had a first-day-back-at-school vibe, with multiple safety-car periods called after a number of clumsy, failed overtakes.
AF Corse’s Alessandro Cozzi, in particular, struggled to find his groove in the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3, first turning the pole-sitting GT3 Aston Martin from Code Racing Development into a spin and off the track, then later hitting the Biogas Ferrari. Both hits forced the aggrieved cars out of the race and resulted in stop-go penalties being handed down by the stewards.
But Cozzi was not alone in getting tangled up. The #15 Vector, #87 CLX and both High Class Racing Ligiers, plus the #21 Kessel Racing Ferrari, were also in the wars at points.
LMP3 Pro/Am had its share of ups and downs. Bretton Racing’s #63 Ligier of Jacek Zielonka and Leo Sami Robinson took the class win comfortably, after the pole-sitting Inter Europol JS P325 slipped back all the way to fifth.
Late battles saw Rinaldi Racing’s #66 Ligier take second and the #24 from Racing Spirit of Leman cross the line third.
GT3, meanwhile, was chaotic all the way to the final corner on the final lap.
Racing Spirit of Leman’s #10 Aston Martin emerged victorious after strong drives from Philipp Sager and Valentin Haase Clot. Behind, the Porsche from Dinamic GT held on to take second after a post-race drive-through time penalty.
The punishment was dealt for contact with the #17 Kessel Racing Ferrari at the final corner, just metres from the finish line, which saw David Fumanelli end up in the barriers and unable to finish.
Kessel’s loss was SMC Motorsport’s gain, with the #77 McLaren inheriting third at the death. The #88 AF Corse Ferrari was classified fourth ahead of the team’s heavily penalised #51 car that salvaged fifth.
Next up on the schedule is a race at Circuit Paul Ricard on May 2nd.
