FFSA, Valle de Vienne – Race One Report
An Easy Win For Panis & Debard With 7 meetings on the agenda of the FFSA-GT, the Val de Vienne races mark the halfway point of the championship. 22 cars were entered, 6 of them being GT1s. Two private practice sessions took place on the Friday, Bornhauser/Groppi setting the best time of the first session (morning) with 1'32"777 and Police/Cazenave doing the same for the second session (afternoon) with 1'33"283. Both qualifying sessions took place on Saturday morning, but with the weight handicaps scheduled for race 1: GT1: 80 kg for Debard/Panis 80 kg for Mérafina/Dayrault 80 kg for Hernandez/Ayari GT3: 50 kg for Gaillard/Parisy 30 kg for Tuchbant/Leclerc So without any weight handicap, it wasn’t a surprise to see Bornhauser setting the pole position in the non professional drivers’ session, then Groppi in the professional drivers’ session. Qualifying for race 1: 1. Bornhauser (Saleen S7R / Larbre Compétition), 1'33"271 2. Debard (Corvette C6.R / DKR Engineering), 1'33"282 3. Hernandez (Corvette C6.R / Luc Alphand Aventures), 1'33"618 4. Police (Corvette C5-R / DKR Engineering), 1'33"819 5. Mérafina (Corvette C6.R / SRT), 1'34"280 6. Cormoreche (Saleen S7R / Tarres Team), 1'35"075 7. Dubreuil (Lamborghini Gallardo / First Racing), 1'36"832 – 1st GT3 8. Lamic (Dodge Viper C.C. / GCR Mediaco), 1'37"395 9. Gaillard (Lamborghini Gallardo / Ruffier Racing), 1'37"859 10. Peyroles (Lamborghini Gallardo / Ruffier Racing), 1'37"895… Qualifying for race 2: 1. Groppi (Saleen S7R / Larbre Compétition), 1'32"242 2. Panis (Corvette C6.R / DKR Engineering), 1'32"435 3. Ayari (Corvette C6.R / Luc Alphand Aventures), 1'32"521 4. Cazenave (Corvette C5-R / DKR Engineering), 1'32"550 5. Porta (Saleen S7R / Tarres Team), 1'33"152 6. Dayraut (Corvette C6.R / SRT), 1'33"474 7. Charpilienne (Ferrari 430 Scuderia / AS Events), 1'35"720 – 1st GT3 8. Leclerc (Lamborghini Gallardo / First Racing), 1'36"541 9. Amado (Lamborghini Gallardo / First Racing), 1'36"590 10. Parisy (Lamborghini Gallardo / Ruffier Racing), 1'36"605… Race
On Saturday afternoon, Bornhauser took the lead, followed by Debard. Police, on the left side of the track, missed his breaking, making a lot of smoke and leaving two black traces on the track. Both DKR Engineering Corvettes entered side by side in the first corner, but Police was too fast and on the dirty side of the track.
He could only spin and finish in the gravel, where one of the BMW passed close to him a few seconds after.
But the race was over for him. It was an even shorter race for Jakubowski and Campbell, with the Ferrari 430 Scuderia, who couldn't even take the start.
In GT3, Dubreuil kept his grid position, followed by Peyroles, who gained two places at the start. Electronic worries for Hallyday at the wheel of Oreca's Audi R8 LMS, losing places. The Val de Vienne track is not the best one for Vipers, but Lamic was happy today and soon overtook Peyroles. Then he took the GT3 lead on the 11th lap.
In GT1, Bornhauser and Debard were now very close, the C6.R touching the S7R several times.
It didn't take long before Bornhauser’s car had damage on its rear left tyre. He had to go back into the pits, angry, but unfortunately one lap before the opening of the driver change window. The tyre was changed, then he went back into the pits one lap later to give the wheel to Groppi.
But Bornhauser had been measured at 95 km/h instead of 60 km/h in the pitlane, so Groppi would have to do a drive through. That made Debard, then Panis an easy leader after the driver change. The SRT and Alphand Corvettes exchanged their positions thanks to the pit-stops, but Dayraut overtook Ayari quickly.
In GT3, the pit-stops didn’t change the positions; Moulin-Traffort now leading Amado and Thévenin. Parisy was 5th, but the fastest GT3 on the track at this time. In GT1, Panis was a lonely leader, while Ayari tried to find the way to overtake Dayraut. Parisy overtook Leclerc, then Thévenin, to take third place in GT3, while Moulin-Traffort began to have difficulties with his tyres. So Amado took the lead at the 26th lap and kept it until the end.
For overall second place, Dayraut tried to close the door at each corner, but he couldn't resist until the end of the race and Ayari overtook him four laps before the end, then was able to build a gap easily.
Panis received the chequered flag 37 seconds ahead of Ayari, but would receive a 30s penalty for Debard's contact with Bornhauser; a deserved penalty, but without any consequence, as his advantage on Ayari was bigger.
Groppi took fifth place. Full results here David Legangneux | 
