FFSA GT, Paul Ricard – Race 1 Report
Beltoise & Pasquali Take The Win And The Title

Thanks to their Race 1 win last Saturday in the final meeting of the GT Tour at the HTTT Paul-Ricard circuit, Anthony Beltoise and Laurent Pasquali (#34 Pro-GT by Alméras Porsche 911 GT3 R) have claimed the 2011 FFSA GT title.

Qualifying

David Hallyday (#32 Team Audi France Audi R8 LMS) set the pole position with a laptime of 1’20’’755, two tenths ahead of Laurent Pasquali’s Porsche; both men being contenders for the drivers title.

Grégoire Demoustier (#17 Graff Racing Mercedes SLMS GT3) was third, ahead of the sister car, the  #3 Mercedes driven by Eric Debard. Jean-Claude Police (#32 Pro-GT by Alméras Porsche) was fifth and Jean-Luc Beaubelique(#20 SOFREV-ASP Ferrari F458GT3) was sixth.

Race

Laurent Pasquali passed David Hallyday’s Audi as early as the first corner. Demoustier also overtook the R8 LMS and was now in second place. Hallyday was third, ahead of Debard. Marc Sourd (#5 Saintéloc Audi R8 LMS) had a very good start and had moved up in fifth position.

Hallyday made a very early pitstop, with Stéphane Ortelli taking over from him. Demoustier was pushing really hard and the #17 Mercedes overtook Pasquali in the Beausset corner and took the lead.

Thirty minutes after the start, the safety car came out as Christian Beroujon’s #21 Ferrari and Florent Priez’s #41 Lamborghini had a violent contact, both cars being badly damaged and having to retire. So, most of the drivers pitted for the mandatory pitstops.

The safety car stayed on the track for almost 20 minutes.  Following the pitstops, Ortelli’s Audi was now in the lead, ahead of the Graff Racing Mercedes of Renaud Derlot (#17) and Olivier Panis (#3) in third. Anthony Beltoise (#34 Porsche) was in fourth place but the Porsche had already made its two mandatory pitstops.

Ortelli made his second pitstop soon after and the Graff Racing Mercedes also stopped ten minutes later. Anthony Beltoise became the new leader, ahead of Grégory Guilvert (#4 Saintéloc Racing Audi) and Ludovic Badey (#20 Sofrev-ASP Ferrari). The positions would not change again before the chequered flag.

However, following the post-race technical inspection, the #20 Ferrari was downgraded (under the minimum weight) to the benefit of the #007 LMP Motorsport Aston Martin DBRS9 driven by Paul Lamic and Frédéric Gambillon.

The results can be found – here

Quotes

Laurent Pasquali: “For this 2011 season, I was partnering Anthony for the first time, even though we’ve known each other since our Porsche Carrera Cup days. I have learned quite a lot alongside him, and have been taking my racing very seriously. I may seem very relaxed, but I am not really…!”

Anthony Beltoise: “A strong relationship is the key to success and we quickly learned to trust each other. Our season, the first one with a new team, has been perfect and you have to remember that Laurent was doing his first full GT season. Today we owe our win to the team strategy. I knew that the title was within reach,  so the last few laps have been quite difficult.”

Claude Foubert