Lance Stroll will make his GT racing debut later this month at Paul Ricard, driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the opening round of the 2026 GT World Challenge Europe. The outing fills a gap in the F1 calendar after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were removed from April’s schedule, creating a five-week window between races; the Bahrain weekend had been due April 11-12.
Stroll will share the Comtoyou Racing-run Aston Martin with former Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi and Aston Martin Academy prospect Mari Boya, who currently competes in F2. Although this will be Stroll’s first GT event, he has previously raced the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, finishing fifth in 2016.
The Paul Ricard outing comes amid a difficult start to the F1 season for Stroll and Aston Martin, with the Canadian having failed to finish or be classified in all three Grands Prix so far (excluding the China Sprint). Stroll is not alone in switching to GT machinery briefly — Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recently confirmed he will make his Nürburgring 24 Hours debut in May.