FFSA GT Preview - Dijon
The third meeting of the 2007 FFSA GT Championship will be held on the Dijon-Prenois circuit this weekend (May 12-13). Dijon is a very fast track, very demanding, with a long straight and blind corners.

Soheil Ayari: "For my part, Dijon is the best French circuit, apart from the street circuits of Pau and Monaco. It’s hilly and the many fast and technical curves are great fun for the drivers. Several areas of the track are bumpy and the tarmac provides a lot of grip, so the driving feelings are increased. The difficulty is to find the right settings and have a good compromise for the bumps. Not too hard, not too soft..."

The Oreca Saleens have won three races already this season. They have been defeated only once at Nogaro, where the PSI Corvette C5-R driven by Zangarelli / Police won the second race. Both Saleens, #1 and #9, will have considerable ballast at Dijon, which could be troublesome for them. Moreover, both Oreca Saleens will have smaller restrictors at Dijon (30.8mm instead of 31.8 previously).

In addition, Raymond Narac, now considered as a “B” type driver, and no longer just a gentleman, will have to stay in the pits ten seconds longer at the driver change. The #9 Saleen will have 100 kg (sorry, that should read120 kg) of ballast (80 kg usually for the race winner) this weekend.

Of course, Soheil Ayari is not very pleased with this decision: “The whole Oreca team, including Hugues de Chaunac but also MATMUT, Oreca’s major partner, finds that this decision is excessive and goes against equality and safety. We’ll have to push really hard to pass our rivals at Dijon. I am wondering about the effects on the long straight - which is uphill - on the Dijon track. The FFSA is levelling down the Championship, while everyone knows that the three Oreca wins since the start of the season are not only the result of the car’s qualities. All the drivers have done a perfect job and the team as well.”

The Corvettes, thanks to their huge torque, will be tough contenders for Oreca at Dijon. Cazenave and Cayrolle (SRT), Bouchut and Lebon (PSI C6.R), Zangarelli and Police (PSI C5-R), and Policand / Balthazard (Luc Alphand Aventures C5-R) are all potential winners.

Jack Leconte has improved the ANAVEO Larbre Aston Martin DBR9, and with Frédéric Makowiecki and Patrick Bornhauser performing well at Lédenon, perhaps they’ll claim their first win. The Protek Saleen S7R (Dupuy / Fiat) and the Tarrès Team’s S7R (Thévenin / Debard) will be well in contention too.
Claude Foubert

Here are the MATMUT drivers (and Hugues de Chaunac) with Daniel Havis, the MATMUT Chairman.