FFSA GT, Ledenon – Race One Report
A Good Day For DKR & Ruffier Racing GT1 Qualifying In the qualifying for race 1, Bruno Hernandez (#9 Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R) was first quickest; with a 1'17"917 laptime. He shared the front row with another C6.R, the #3 DKR Engineering Corvette, driven by Eric Debard. In the second row were Patrick Bornhauser, defending champion, behind the wheel of the #1 Larbre Saleen S7R and Ange Barde (#7 SRT C6.R). Jean-Claude Police (#5 DKR Engineering C5-R) was fifth quickest, with Roland Bervillé (Sébastien Bourdais' partner aboard the #2 Larbre Saleen) sixth and Didier Cormorèche (#4 Tarrès Saleen) seventh. Race report At the start, there was a strong wind (45 miles/h) and the track was cold (13°C). So, as the tyres could not heat up enough, several drivers were trapped, including Police and Cormorèche who had a spin amidst the field. The #53 Lamborghini Gallardo being stopped on the track, on the race line, the Safety Car came out. After the restart, Hernandez, poleman, was still in the lead, ahead of Debard and Bornhauser. Roland Bervillé, meanwhile, was a bit delayed after taking a drive-through. During the driver changes, Laurent Groppi took over from Bornhauser but his Saleen had a stop and go penalty due to an infringement during the pitstop. At this point, before coming back to the pits for his penalty, Groppi was leading the race ahead of Soheil Ayari (#9 LAA Corvette) and Olivier Panis (#3 DKR Corvette). Panis was very quick and succeeded in passing Ayari and Groppi quite easily, before going on to take the win. Ayari finished in second place and Groppi, in spite of his stop and go, was third. Sébastien Bourdais finished in fifth place. GT3 Qualifying The first row was claimed by the Ruffier Racing Gallardos, Patrick Gaillard (#64) being first quickest, ahead of Arnaud Peyroles (#59). Danny Snobeck (#52 As Events Ferrari 430 Scuderia) -2009 French Rally champion!- was third and Thierry Prignaud (#61 Sport Garage BMW Alpina) fourth. Race report Patrick Gaillard was the best starter and kept the lead until the race went yellow. At the green flag, he was ahead of Peyroles, Prignaud, Jakubowski (#55 AS Events Ferrari 430 Scuderia), Snobeck and Dubreuil (#58 First Racing Lamborghini). Further back, Fabien Barthez (1998 FIFA world champion) had gearbox problems with the #65 GCR Mediaco Viper. Gaillard was still in first place when pitting for the driver changes. Mike Parisy, who had taken over from him, kept the lead to the flag ahead of his teammate Olivier Thévenin (#59 Gallardo). Gilles Vannelet (#61 BMW) was third, ahead of Christopher Campbell (#55 Ferrari), Stéphane Ortelli (#68 ORECA Audi R8 LMS), Ulric Amado (#58 Lamborghini) and Morgan Moulin-Traffort (#66 GCR Mediaco Dodge Viper). Vannelet had to retire with a broken drive, but Ortelli was pushing very hard and succeeded in passing Campbell for the last step on the podium. In the late stages, Amado and Moulin-Traffort also overtook Campbell. Race 1 results here Claude Foubert | 
