Jessica Hawkins completes GTWC Europe opener in class P11
- RACERS
- Apr 16
- 5 min read
Jessica Hawkins made her GT World Challenge Europe debut at Le Castellet, helping the #270 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 climb 13 positions to finish P11 in the Bronze Cup after a clean, consistent run in an uninterrupted 6-hour race.
Aston Martin F1 Team driver ambassador Jessica Hawkins made her GT World Challenge Europe debut at the 2025 season opener in Le Castellet, France, finishing eleventh in the Bronze Cup class after a learning-oriented weekend that saw the #270 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, operated by Comtoyou Racing, move up the field during the 6-hour race.
Hawkins, who made her GT3 debut last year in the British GT Championship—where she made steady progress across a partial rookie campaign and claimed two Silver-Am class podiums—returned behind the wheel, stepping up to the GT World Challenge, one of the world’s most competitive GT3 series, with 59 cars on the grid.
The British racer shares the car with Belgian drivers Antoine Potty and Alexandre Leroy in the Bronze class. The trio joins Comtoyou Racing for their first season in the series, aiming to steadily improve throughout the five endurance rounds.
At the Le Castellet season opener, Hawkins and her teammates had a challenging start but kept it clean and mistake-free, delivering a solid run that saw the #270 Aston Martin climb the order in the uninterrupted 6-hour contest.
In official practice, the team set the 15th-fastest time in class with a 1:56.508 lap—2.4 seconds off the overall pace-setters—as they geared up for qualifying.
Antoine Potty took on Q1 and set a 1:55.699 lap, placing the team 42nd overall and 8th in the Bronze class. Jessica Hawkins drove the second session, recording a 1:58.621 lap. Despite improving her second sector in the final minutes, light rain prevented a better time; she ended the session P59 and 16th in class.
Alexandre Leroy was at the wheel for Q3 and clocked a 1:57.096. The average qualifying time was therefore a 1:57.138, placing the #270 Comtoyou Racing entry 16th in the Bronze Cup for the race start.
Alexandre Leroy took the start later that day for the season-opening 6-hour race. A clean opening lap across the nearly 60-car field saw Leroy make a strong getaway, gaining nine positions to sit 50th overall and ninth in class. The Belgian continued a positive run, moving up a few more places in the opening laps to reach seventh in the Bronze Cup and 48th overall just 10 minutes into the race.
By lap 8, Leroy began to fall slightly behind but then improved his pace, breaking the 2-minute barrier for the first time. As the sun began to set, winds picked up and light rain started to fall. At the 30-minute mark, Leroy had settled into 12th place in the Bronze class.
The race saw its first Full Course Yellow about 10 minutes later when Marvin Kirchhöfer’s McLaren stopped on the Mistral straight. The situation was quickly resolved without deploying a full Safety Car, and green flag racing resumed. Leroy followed closely behind Andrey Mukovoz in the #66 Audi.
Another FCY was triggered when the other Optimum Motorsport McLaren, driven by James Allen, also came to a halt. With one hour complete, many teams, including Comtoyou, began the first round of pit stops. As the race returned to green, Leroy pitted and handed over to Jessica Hawkins, who rejoined 16th in class and 57th overall.
Hawkins immediately set lap times in the 1:59s and steadily improved to a 1:58.4—the car’s fastest lap so far and the first under 1:59. She closed in on the #27 QMMF by Saintéloc Audi and passed Al Abdulghani to gain one position in class.
She then caught and overtook the #12 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Nico Hook for P14 in Bronze, soon building a gap and maintaining consistent pace in the 1:58s range. After a solid one-hour stint, Hawkins had climbed to P13 in class. As darkness fell, she pitted on lap 57 and handed the car to Antoine Potty.
During the pit cycle, they had briefly risen to P10 in class. After the second round of stops, Potty rejoined in P15 in Bronze but immediately began setting the team’s fastest laps in the 1:56.4 range, over half a second quicker than the Rinaldi Ferrari ahead. He soon overtook the Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari and settled into P13.
Potty’s pace remained consistently in the 1:58s; he gradually closed the gap to the #52 AF Corse Ferrari and overtook Andrea Bertolini for P12 in class on lap 82. At the halfway mark, Potty handed the car back to Leroy during the third pit stop. Leroy rejoined in P13.
During the night stint, lap times stabilized over 2:02. The #270 Aston now had a comfortable margin behind and about 20 seconds to the #93 Ferrari ahead. Cycling up to P12 during the stint, Leroy brought the car in again with two hours remaining, and Jessica Hawkins returned to the cockpit for her second stint—this time in fully dark conditions.
Hawkins rejoined in P13 and maintained position. With 1 hour and 14 minutes remaining, the #54 Silver-class Dinamic GT Porsche of Mateo Llarena stopped on track, triggering the third FCY. Hawkins gained one overall position and maintained P13 in Bronze. The FCY was again resolved quickly, and racing resumed seven minutes later.
The final round of pit stops began with one hour to go: Hawkins completed her second clean stint and handed the car back to Antoine Potty for the final hour. Another short FCY followed shortly after. Once back under green, Potty returned to 1:57 pace.
The #93 Ziggo Sport Ferrari then received a stop-and-go penalty for track limits abuse, promoting Potty to P12 in the Bronze class. The Belgian’s stint remained consistent and was faster than a few cars ahead, even though the team was now a lap down to the #52 AF Corse Ferrari. Further penalties for other competitors helped Potty climb to P11.
Another FCY was triggered with 10 minutes to go when the #333 Lamborghini stopped on track, but it was quickly removed and racing resumed. In the final minutes, heavy rain suddenly hit Circuit Paul Ricard. Despite the now treacherous conditions, Antoine Potty survived the slippery final lap and crossed the finish line in P11 in Bronze class and 46th overall—gaining 13 places from the start.
While it was not an easy race for the #270 Comtoyou crew, they steadily moved forward, collected valuable mileage, encountered no reliability issues, and will aim to convert this experience into greater pace at the next round: the Monza endurance race on 30 May–1 June.
