McLaren Factory Driver, Ollie Wilkinson will take on the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000km for the first time this weekend for the third round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS championship.

Undertaking his first full season in the series, Wilkinson heads to Paul Ricard off the back of an encouraging Sprint Cup outing earlier this month, where he and fellow McLaren works driver Ben Barnicoat came close to their first podium finish with fourth overall.

A return to the Endurance Cup format for Paul Ricard means Wilkinson and Barnicoat will be reunited with Rob Bell aboard the JOTA McLaren 720S GT3 for the second longest race on the series calendar, after the Spa 24 Hours which falls later this year.

The 1000km presents a unique challenge for the full factory driver line-up, racing from day and into the night at the challenging French circuit amid a 47-strong field of the world’s best GT3 cars and drivers.

The JOTA trio will begin preparations with 90 minutes of Free Practice at on Friday afternoon ahead of the night Pre-Qualifying session from 20:40. The live-streamed action starts with all-important Qualifying at 10:45 on Saturday morning.

The 2021 running of the Paul Ricard 1000km is due to go green at 18:00 on Saturday evening and will run until midnight, aired live through both the series website and YouTube channel.

Check out the provisional schedule below and follow Ollie’s social media channels for regular updates.

Paul Ricard 1000km – Provisional Schedule

Friday, May 28th
15:00-16:30 – Free Practice     Live timing at gt-world-challenge-europe.com
20:40-22:10 – Pre Qualifying  Live timing at gt-world-challenge-europe.com

Saturday, May 29th
10:45-11:45 – Qualifying           Watch live
18:00-00:00 – 1000km Race  Watch live