After the summer break, the FFSA-GT is back for the last three meetings of the season. Soheil Ayari, hurt in a motorcycle accident, was replaced by Eric Hélary at the wheel of the Ferrari #9 entered by Sport Garage.
After Edward Sanström at Lédenon, Marc Basseng at Le Mans and Christopher Haase at Spa and Val de Vienne, it’s Markus Winkelhock who completes the crew of the Audi #23 entered by Saintéloc Racing.
Qualifying
On Saturday morning, Philippe Giauque (Ferrari #20 / AKKA ASP) set the fastest time of the qualifying session 1A, then Sacha Bottemanne (Porsche #17 / StratégiC) did the same in qualifying session 1B, but their average time put Olivier Pernaut and Raymond Narac (Porsche #1 / IMSA Performance) on pole for the first race. Later, Mike Parisy (Audi #3 / Loeb) continued on the same pace shown at Spa and Val de Vienne, again taking the pole for the second race. He was also unbeaten on Friday during both free practice sessions.
Race 1
On Saturday afternoon, Olivier Pernaut took the lead at the start, ahead of Nicolas Misslin (Porsche #17 / StrategiC), followed closely by Stéphane Lémeret (Ferrari #6 / Sport Garage). Maxime Pialat (Ferrari #9 / Sport Garage) and Christophe Hamon (Audi #5 / Loeb) completed the top 5.
Third on the grid, Giauque took a bad start and fell to 8th place on the first lap, going wide in Estoril curve. At the same place, one lap later, it was Lémeret who went wide giving the 3rd place to Pialat. Behind, Eric Debard (Ferrari #16 / AKKA ASP), Giauque & David Hallyday (Audi #3 / Loeb) were very close together, fighting for 7th place. Pernaut was a strong leader, not under immediate threat. After 11 laps, Lémeret found the opening to overtake Pialat, taking 3rd place.
Before the opening of the first window, Pernaut had built a 4″3 gap on Misslin, who was threatened by Lémeret, losing 2nd place at Lycée corner, a few meters before entering the pits. Combot (Ferrari #12 / Sport Garage) joined the fight for 4th place, behind Hamon who managed to be side by side with Pialat but couldn’t overtake him. Lémeret led for two laps, before making his own pit-stop.
When the first pit-stop window closed, we were back to a Porsche 1-2, with now Narac in the lead. But Sacha Bottemanne, 2nd, and Nicolas Tardif (Ferrari #9 / Sport Garage), 3rd, received a drive-through for not respecting track limits at the pit exit. Neverless, Sacha Bottemanne could rejoin the race without losing a place, just ahead of his father, Christian. But not for long, as a lap later he wen wide in the gravel at the first corner, giving 2nd place to his father. The Bottemanne family were fighting nicely, Sacha taking back the 3rd place after two and a half laps behind his father. Eric Cayrolle (Ferrari #6 / Sport Garage) also managed to overtake Christian Bottemanne a little later.
Raymond Narac led, 40″ ahead of Sacha Bottemanne, before the second pit-stop window. He gave the wheel to Sébastien Dumez, who could start his stint at the lead, with an increased advantage (more than 42″) on the Ferrari #6, now driven by Arno Santamato. The driver change for the other 997 was not as good, the StratégiC entered Porsche losing too places, being back behind the Audi #5, now driven by Lonni Martins.
The race would become worse for the Le Mans based Porsche, Benjamin Lariche having to retire after 44 laps because of fuel pressure. The end of the race was relatively uneventful, especially for Dumez, until he received the checkered flag as the winner, taking the lead of the championship by 1 point (but having to remove a result at the end of the season). In the closing laps, Martins reduced the gap on Santamato, without being able to try to overtake him.
Race 1 broadcast: Here
Race 2
On Sunday, Parisy, starting from the pole, couldn’t prevent Dino Lunardi (Ferrari #36 / Duqueine Engineering) from taking the lead at the start. He was followed by four Ferraris, driven by Morgan Moulin-Traffort (#20 / AKKA ASP), Anthony Beltoise (#8 / Duqueine Engineering), Guibbert (#12 / Sport Garage) and Hélary, and two Audis, driven by Martins and Winkelhock.
On the 3rd lap, the German driver goes wide in Estoril curve, opening the door to Olivier Panis (Ferrari #16 / AKKA ASP). But not for long, as three minutes later Panis took a wrong path in the last chicane, Winkelhock found the way to overtake him. Before the end of the first quarter of an hour, he also overtook Martins at the Lycée corner to take 7th place. Twenty minutes after the start, Panis also overtook Martins, this time at Adelaïde corner. Winkelhock’s next target was Hélary. The 1993 Le Mans winner went wide in the 180° so he could move up to Hélary’s side, but didn’t manage to overtake him. He pulled the same move again before the end of the first half hour, but again Hélary could resist.
Car positions weren’t modified in the top 4 by the first driver change, with now Bruno Strazzer (Ferrari #36) leading Philippe Gaillard (Audi #3), Jean-Luc Beaubelique (Ferrari #20) and Duqueine (Ferrari #8). As on Saturday, Sacha Bottemanne was quick and climbed from 8th to 4th, despite a drive-through because of a too short pit-stop. Duqueine overtook Beaubelique at the entrance of Adelaïde, but Beaubelique took him back at the exit. Duqueine would succeed at the same place a little later. But for only half a lap, as he spun in the last chicane, giving back 3rd place to Beaubelique. One lap later, Tony Samon (Ferrari #12), had a braking problem at Lycée corner, hit the back of Duqueine’s Ferrari, destroying the front of his 458 and ending his race. Duqueine’s car was less damaged, but enough to also have to retire.
In the lead Strazzer had a quiet stint until he went wide in the first corner, crossing the gravel trap, 35 minutes before the end, giving the lead to Gaillard. He took it back at Adelaïde on the following lap, just before the opening of the second pit-stop window, that didn’t change the top 6. But positions wouldn’t stay as they were for long, as David Hallyday (Audi #3 / Loeb), 3rd, was very close behind Giauque, 2nd. He soon overtook him on the pit straight. Next target for the singer: Romain Brandela (Ferrari #36), 2 seconds ahead. Hallyday would only need two laps to take the lead, overtaking Brandela at Lycée corner, 18 minutes before the end. A good performance for the singer, as he was unwell. It would be the final position change in the top 3 until the checkered flag.
Sacha Bottemanne made a drive through during his stint, but it was a mistake, as his penalty was a 2 seconds stop & go, so Misslin received Bottemanne’s penalty. But he didn’t stop. He’d receive a post-race 40 seconds penalty, falling from 4th to 10th in the official results.
The battle at the end of the race was mainly between the championship leaders, Pernaut leading Lémeret in 6th place after a start of the second race far from the leaders for IMSA Performance. Pernaut overtook Debard, taking 5th place, then Lémeret had more difficulties trying to do the same, but would succeed two laps before the end in the first corner, helped by Debard going wide.
By finishing ahead of Lémeret/Cayrolle/Santamato, Pernaut/Narac/Dumez increased their lead in the championship from 1 to 3 points. Nothing definitive of course, as two meetings remain before the end of the season, with Navarra next on September 26 & 27.
Race 2 broadcast: Here
Championship standings: Here
David Legangneux
