FFSA GT Championship, Lédenon – Race Two Report
Renaud & Derlot Double Up

It was a successful weekend for Graff Racing, the Mercedes SLS GT3 and Renaud/Derlot with two wins in a row at Lédenon for the first stage of the GT Tour.

Qualifying

Q1

These qualifications were reserved for the Pro pilots. Stéphane Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS #32) and Anthony Beltoise (Porsche pro-WP by Alméras #7) was first quickest, but the Ferrari 458 Sofrev/AFP was charging in the late session, Olivier Pla (Ferrari Sofrev/ASP #10), being quickest, ahead of Renaud Derlot (Mercedes Graff Racing #17), Julien Piguet (Lamborghini Gallardo TEAM Ciné Cascades #12) and Olivier Panis (Mercedes Graff Racing #3). Laurent Groppi - ninth quickest in the #7 Larbre Porsche - scraped into the second qualifying session by the slightest of margins.

Q2

Ortelli set the first flying lap, with 10 cars left in this session. Derlot's Mercedes improved on Ortelli's laptime, but Ludovic Badey (#20 Ferrari 458 Sofrev/ASP) succeeded in setting the pole position. Derlot was second, Olivier Pla third, Panis (#3 Graff Racing Mercedes SLS) fourth and Ortelli fifth.

Race report

This second race was a 45 minutes sprint race, with one mandatory pitstop only.

At the start, Derlot (Mercedes #17) surprised the poleman Ludovic Badey and was first into turn one, taking the lead.

They were followed their respective teammates Olivier Pla (Ferrari #10) and Olivier Panis (Mercedes #3). Panis lost some ground soon afterwards and was fighting with Beltoise's Porsche for fourth position.

Just before mid-race, the battle for the win seemed to be between Derlot's Mercedes and Badey and Pla's Ferraris, while a bit further back, Ortelli, Panis, Beltoise and Groppi had eventful stints.

After the mandatory driver changes, Jean-Luc Beaubelique (Ferrari 458 Sofrev/ASP #20) was in the lead.  Derlot/Tonelli's Mercedes, Groppi/Bornhauser's Porsche and Beltoise/Pasquali's Porsche - the top three on Saturday - had an extra time pitstop due to their race-one result: respectively 12, 8 and 4 seconds. However, Gerard Tonelli was charging impressively and overtook Beaubelique's Ferrari for first place. David Hallyday was pushing hard too and succeeded in taking the last spot on the podium. Pasquali/Beltoise finished fourth, Pla/Balthazard fifth, Groppi/Bornhauser sixth and Panis/Debard seventh.

The complete classification of this race is here

In the Gentlemen Trophy, Fabien Barthez and Gilles Duqueine took the win with their Sofrev/ASP Ferrari.

The standings of the championship after the first stage of Lédenon are:
1 Derlot/Tonelli (Mercedes SLS Graff Racing) 30,5; 2 Groppi/Bornhauser - Porsche Larbre) and Ortelli/Hallyday (Audi TEAM France) 18 - 4 Beltoise/Pasquali (Porsche pro-WP by Alméras) 16,5 - 5 Badey/Beaubelique (Sofrev/ASP Ferrari) 15.

Claude Foubert