The fourth meeting in a seven-round season, at Val de Vienne, marked the halfway point of the season. After starting with 27 cars at the opening round, the entry here was down to 23 cars.
Both qualifying sessions took place on the Saturday morning, with Grégoire Demoustier dominating the first session, with a 0.220s advantage over the second best time, set by David Smet (also known as David Hallyday).
Behind these two, the other drivers were close together, with only 0.36s between the second and seventh cars. In the second qualifying session, Morgan Moulin-Traffort set the best time.
He enjoyed less of an advantage, with the four quickest cars being covered by less than 0.2s.
The first race followed on Saturday afternoon.
Demoustier (McLaren #12/ART GP) kept his leading position at the start, followed by Smet (Audi #42/Saintéloc), Barthez (Ferrari #16/Sofrev), Pasquali (McLaren #8/Sébastien Loeb Racing) and Abril (Audi #36/Speed Car). Behind, Cayrolle (Ferrari #27/Sport Garage) climbed from tenth to sixth. Demoustier increased the gap on Smet, who was overtaken by footballer-turned-racer Barthez ten minutes after the start of the race.
After the driver changes, Moulin-Traffort (Ferrari #16/Sofrev) led from Beltoise (McLaren #8/Sébastien Loeb Racing), who was soon overtaken by Santamato (Ferrari #27/Sport Garage).
Further back, Guilvert (Audi #42/Saintéloc) was fighting with Amado (McLaren #12/ART). Beltoise suffered further misfortune with a puncture after running over debris, and this led to the safety car being summoned. The race went back to green with ten minutes to go, but the leading positions remained unaltered up to the checkered flag, so Sofrev ASP took their third win of the season, and the second for Barthez and Moulin Traffort.
The second race took place early on the Sunday afternoon. Morgan Moulin-Traffort held onto his top position at the start, while Beltoise jumped from fourth to second, followed by Santamato and Perera (Porsche #1/Pro GT).
Guilvert, meanwhile, fell from third to sixth place and continued to fall – to ninth, eventually. The race was uneventful in the top five during the 15 first laps, but following door to door contact on Lap 16, Ayari (Ferrari #20/Sofrev ASP) managed to overtake Amado and claim fifth place.
On Lap 20, Moulin-Traffort was hampered by the Chinese BMW, and Beltoise didn’t miss the opportunity to take the lead. The leaders stopped at the end of the pit-stop window, but with a longer mandatory pitstop, due to the time penalty after the previous day’s success, Moulin-Traffort and Barthez dropped to fourth while Beltoise and Pasquali kept the lead.
After all the driver changes were complete, Pasquali led from Giauque (Porsche #1/Pro GT), Beaubelique (Ferrari #20/Sofrev) and Barthez.
With three laps to go, Beaubelique was baulked by a backmarker and went into the gravel; eventually finishing 14th having lost a probable podium spot.
In the Coupe de France class, both races were won by Frank Morel and Erwin France (Porsche/Pro GT by Alméras).
Full results:
The standings are not available due to an appeal by one of the entrants.
The winners since the beginning of the season:
Le Mans 1 – Pasquali – Beltoise (McLaren MP4-12C GT3/Sébastien Loeb Racing)
Le Mans 2 – Demoustier – Amado (McLaren MP4-12C GT3/ART)
Imola 1 – Barthez – Moulin Traffort (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Sofrev ASP)
Imola 2 – Beaubelique – Ayari (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Sofrev ASP)
Spa 1 – Abril – Lunardi (Audi R8 LMS ultra/Speed Car)
Spa 2 – Giauque – Perera (Porsche 997 GT3-R/Pro GT)
Val de Vienne 1 – Barthez – Moulin-Traffort (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Sofrev ASP)
Val de Vienne 2 – Pasquali – Beltoise (McLaren MP4-12C GT3/Sébastien Loeb Racing)
David Legangneux
