Brandon McCaughan Left Disappointed At Paul Ricard

Prototype racing rising star Brandon McCaughan produced impressive pace during an ultimately frustrating second round of the 2026 Ligier European Series at Circuit Paul Ricard (01-02 May).

The Northern Irishman firmly highlighted himself as one to watch in the 2026 season with superb speed and racecraft during the opening round in Barcelona last month, having fought his way into the race lead in both races in Spain.

Eager to build on that performance, McCaughan had high hopes as he made the trip to the south of France to race at Paul Ricard for the first time. Building up speed around the technical 3.63-mile circuit across two free practice sessions on Friday, he went on to put in a great qualifying performance.

The 22-year-old talent went third fastest in his qualifying session, whilst a top five result for his team-mate Sebastien Kawpeng ensured the Team Virage crew would start in the podium mix for both races. McCaughan took the start in the opening 60-minute encounter and brilliantly moved up to second place on lap one.

While he slipped back to third a few minutes later, a solid stint from there ensured he remained in third position heading into the mid-race pitstops. Kawpeng took the reins from there and a strong performance ensured they scored some good championship points with a fifth-place result.

The early stages of race two didn’t go to plan for Kawpeng though unfortunately, as he got caught up in a multi-car incident. Dropping back to 12th in the process, the Filipino racer produced an immediate fightback to move up to ninth place within a few laps in their Ligier JS P4 sports prototype.

Once the pitstops were completed, McCaughan settled into ninth place. Sadly his attempts to progress forward were hampered by a drive-through penalty, which left him to settle for 12th at the chequered flag – though he was then promoted to 10th with time penalties for other drivers.

The Ballymena-based driver races with the crucial support of his loyal partners; UtilityMapz, I.J. Lynn & Sons, ADM Group and AAA Biomass Services Ltd. The 2026 Ligier European Series season continues next month (07 June) with the biggest event of the season, as they race on the world-famous Circuit de la Sarthe as part of the 24 Hours of Le Mans event.

Brandon McCaughan: “It’s been a pretty disappointing round to be honest. The race results didn’t reflect the pace that myself and Sebastien had, which ultimately came down to some issues that slowed our progress through free practice and then some bad luck here and there in the races.

“Qualifying in the top five for both races was a positive end to a tricky Friday, and I was happy with my performance to finish third quickest in my session and then hold that position at the start of race one. It was a clean race for us and we got a solid enough result in fifth.

“We knew where we were lagging compared to the front-runners and made some positive changes to the car for race two. It was very quick, but unfortunately Sebastian had some contact, which cost him time and led to a very harsh drive through penalty. We had to salvage P10 in the end.

“It’s frustrating, but that’s just the way racing is. It’s not impossible to get back into championship contention and we have the pace to do it, we just need to have some clean weekends and score some big results. We’ve got five weeks now to reset and get ready for Le Mans.”

Images from DPPI Images / Ligier European Series.