Aston Martin wins the 2019 Series opening tournament

The first World Tour of the 2019 Series is being held in Paris on 16-17 March. The start of the 'FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships' 2019 Series will be an important moment that will foretell the future of the Series. The 'Manufacturer Series' took place on the 16th, with Aston Martin's team (Christopher Marcell / USA, Thomas Compton-Mcpherson / UK, Yoshiharu Imai / Japan) winning.

The Gabriel Pavillon, where the World Tour is taking place, has seen a total of 36 competitors, divided in teams of 3, representing 12 manufacturers, who were selected based on their results from last year's World Finals. The 'Manufacturer Series' tournament consisted of 4 races in total: the first 3 races were all individual efforts, while the Final Race was a team race with double the points.

In the 'Top 6 Qualifying', Nicolás Rubilar (Chile) performed well and BMW won the pole position. Lexus, last year's 'Manufacturer Series' Champion, did not make it to the top 6 but started 9th.

In the first race, BMW achieved pole-to-win just after the result of the 'Top 6 Qualifying'. In the second race, the first Asian Champion Ryota Kokubun (Japan) won with Nissan GT-R Gr.4. In this race, Aston Martin's Mcpherson took advantage of the V8 Vantage Gr.4's stronger performance on straights, and made a huge comeback from 7th position to 2nd.

The third race was the beginning of the mayhem as the first European Champion Mikail Hizal (Germany) went off track with his Nissan. Aston Martin kept the lead, staying away from the pack behind. However, Renault Sport overtook Aston Martin in the final chicane to win the race.

With the temporary rankings seeing Nissan in 1st place, Aston Martin in 2nd and BMW in 3rd, all was ready for the full teams to battle it out on the final endurance race, 17 laps on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix Layout. Aston Martin, who finished 3rd at the World Finals last year, cleared the race without a mistake and went on to win the tournament, putting on display a true team effort.

Follow the Championships as they happen on 'Gran Turismo LIVE'

The 'Nations Cup' will take place on the final day of the World Tour on 17th March. The race will be broadcast
live on 'Gran Turismo LIVE'. With the introduction of team radio, look forward to a more realistic type of racing!

World Tour 2019 - Paris
Manufacturer Series Race Result

Rank	Manufacturer / Drivers	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total Points
1	Aston Martin Christopher Marcell / Thomas Compton-Mcpherson / Yoshiharu Imai	4	10	10	24	48
2	Nissan Igor Fraga / Mikail Hizal / Ryota Kokubun	8	12	8	12	40
3	Porsche Thiago Gonzaga / Sérgio Fonseca / Tatsuya Sugawara	7	4	3	20	34
4	BMW Nicolás Rubilar / Mike Zocher / Yuta Tsunashima	12	8	0	6	26
5	Toyota Agustín Cajal / Rayan Derrouiche / Tomoaki Yamanaka	2	1	7	14	24
6	Mitsubishi Michael Avansino / James Adams / Shogo Yoshida	1	0	5	16	22
7	Mercedes-Benz Pedro Marzan / Edward Williams / Yusuke Nakao	5	7	2	8	22
8	Lexus Richard Castro / Vincent Rigaud / Kanata Kawakami	3	2	4	10	19
9	Subaru Joseph Lauro / Ilkka Koikkalainen / Takuma Miyazono	6	3	6	4	19
10	Renault Sport Facundo Dudulec / Coque López / David Dolinsky	0	5	12	0	17
11	Honda Diego Rubilar / Thomas Leonhart / Shunichi Arai	10	0	1	0	11
12	Chevrolet Fabian Portilla / Lewis Bentley / Yasushi Fujioka	0	6	0	2	8