The Championship and French Cup GT FFSA drivers started Race 1 under a threatening sky for this first race of the weekend. Because of a broken engine during the qualifying sessions, Maximin / Eymeric had to withdraw. Olivier Dupard (Belmondo Viper) was the best starter, ahead of Romain Bera (PSI Porsche) and Didier Defourny. Very soon, Dupard managed to fly off into the distance - but the fight for second place was raging between Gérard Bleynie (Mirabeau Viper) and Bera. They passed and repassed, the game between both men was going on for several laps, which enabled Didier Defourny first, then Jean-Luc Blanchemain, to get back in touch. Playing perfectly with the traffic, Olivier Dupard took a 15 seconds lead - before the rain came and disturbed the race.
A second race, 36 minutes long, was to start, Marco Saviozzi being on pole ahead of Paltalla, Goueslard and Dumez (PSI Porsche and Larbre Vipers). Some entrants, who had suffered because of the weather conditions, could not start. Among them, Bleynie / Lagniez, with a gearbox broken after an off. Paltalla had the advantage at the second start but had to give up, with a misted-up wndscreen, owing to a heating failure. Two men distinguished themselves in the rain; first Sébastien Dumez (right) , who took the lead, and Frédéric Makowiecki in the Nourry 911 GT2, who made a spectacular recovery, from tenth place all the way up to second. Both Patrice Goueslard and Dominique Dupuy had excusrions and so they lost time, and points for the Championship, finishing fourth and seventh. The times of both races being added, Dumez / Blanchemain took the win for Larbre, ahead of Cayrolle / Lebon in the Mirabeau Viper and Makowiecki / Berville in the 993. In the N-GT category, Thévenin / Bornhauser returned with the win after their Le Mans misfortune, while in the French Cup, William David was impressive and took the win far ahead of the Demigneux brothers and Bertapelle / Charriol. Sébastien Dumez: “Jean-Luc Blanchemain made a good first stint, he was in the right position ahead and set the necessary pace. We had modified our settings to fit the car to the rain conditions, playing on the roll-damping bar and the wings. The first laps were not so easy, the track was tricky and there was no visibility, but I must say that thanks to the Spa 24 Hours I had a good training in these conditions with the Viper. My main care was to keep a good pace, without focusing on the gap with the runner-ups. Our aim for the weekend was to strengthen our second position in the Championship, which is what we did with this win. Tomorrow the race will be very important for the Championship.” Eric Cayrolle: "It was the first time I drove the Viper under the rain. It’s not easy at all, above all because we have not fitted the settings to the conditions because we didn’t know it was permitted. If we want to save our chances for the Championship, we have definitely to win some races before the end of the season, but for a learning season, we are coming through it quite well.” Frédéric Makowiecki: “Under the rain, the Porsche is delightful to drive. I had great fun and I am very happy to help Roland Berville to be on the podium of this race. It would be a good thing for us to have the same weather conditions to-morrow.” Race
1 Result
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heavy shower fell, and so there were many offs. For safety, there
was a red flag and the race was stopped. So, the driver change was
allowed and the teams could also change their settings. Contents Copyright © dailysportscar.com. All Rights Reserved. |