- Lonni Martins and Sacha Bottemanne win on the wire in the Silver Cup
- A first Pro-Am success in the last lap for Éric Trémoulet and Oliver Jouffret
- A pole and a victory in Am Cup for Michael Blanchemain and Christophe Hamon
- Race 2 at 12:10 this Sunday
The night races of the French FFSA GT Championship have often reserved many surprises. This was more true than ever at Magny-Cours on Saturday! In a crazy evening with the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, the French FFSA Tourism Championship and the French FFSA GT Championship in succession, the competitors of the Hexagon’s flagship competition provided their fair share of entertainment during 60 minutes of a race without any neutralization.
The twists and turns continued right up to the finish. First to pass under the checkered flag, Benjamin Lessennes and Ricardo van der Ende (BMW M4 GT4 #17 – L’Espace Bienvenue) were penalized for speeding in the pit lane. Against all odds, it was Lonni Martins and Sacha Bottemanne who took the overall and Silver Cup victory with the Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Team Fullmotorsport. Already winners of the Silver Cup last year in Nièvre, the duo, who started from the 17th position on the starting grid, also won the overall.
Following their success in the Silver Cup at Nogaro, Roee Meyuhas and Erwan Bastard (#14 Audi R8 LMS GT4 – Saintéloc Racing) once again scored important points by finishing second in the class ahead of Victor Weyrich and Romain Carton (#74 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 – Racing Spirit of Léman). Ricardo van der Ende and Benjamin Lessennes were fifth in the Silver class, behind Thomas Drouet and Paul Evrard (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #88 – Akkodis ASP).
In Pro-Am, the victory was decided in the last moments. Olivier Jouffret (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #64) overtook Eric Debard (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #81 – Akkodis ASP) with 10 minutes to go before snatching victory from Fabien Barthez (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #16 – Akkodis ASP) on the very last lap! A first victory in Pro-Am which sounds like a consecration for the Team Jouffruit by Vic’Team and for its unavoidable duo composed of Olivier Jouffret and Éric Trémoulet. The Mercedes-AMG triple in the class was completed by Jim Pla-Fabien Barthez and Simon Gachet-Eric Debard.
Nicolas Prost and Rudy Servol (Alpine A110 GT4 #36 – CMR) started from pole position but lost out in a collision. Valentin Hasse-Clot and Romano Ricci (Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #13 – Mirage Racing), on the other hand, scored important points by finishing fourth, as did championship leaders Julien Piguet and Alban Varutti (Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport #10 – AVR-Avvatar), who did well with their fifth position in the class.
The best placed Am Cup car on the grid, the #69 Fullmotorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 driven by Michael Blanchemain and Christophe Hamon, won after 60 minutes. And yet… At the halfway point, Michael Blanchemain had fallen back to 3rd place after a fierce battle with Kevin Jimenez (Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #72 – GPA Racing) and Gwenaël Delomier (Alpine A110 GT4 #110 – CMR). After the obligatory driver change, Christophe Hamon was able to take the lead again to win his first race of the year. In addition to the overall and Silver Cup wins, Team Fullmotorsport won the Am Cup and added another podium finish with Cyril Saleilles, third in the class in the #26 of the Bordeaux team. Between the two fluorescent yellow Audis, Jean-Charles Rédélé and Laurent Coubard preserved their leadership in the championship with a second place in the Am Cup. Two Aston Martins completed the day’s top five with the #161 AGS Events of Didier Dumaine-Christophe Carrière ahead of the #72 GPA Racing of Kevin Jimenez-Florent Grizaud.
A second 60-minute race awaits the competitors of the French FFSA GT Championship this Sunday with a start at 12:10 pm. A race that will of course be broadcast on the YouTube channel GTWorld and on the social networks of the championship. If the show is equivalent to the one of this Saturday night, we are looking forward to it!
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Results here
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