FIA GT Series, Nogaro - Qualifying Race Report

Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb has won the opening round of the FIA GT Series at Nogaro. In front of his home crowd Loeb and his co-driver Alvaro Parente were victorious after a long battle with the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra of pole sitter René Rast and Niki Mayr-Melnhof.

?At 2.15 pm the cars were released and 22 cars raced towards the first couple of corners. Andreas Simonsen ran wide, Laurens Vanthoor was tapped and spun into the gravel and only seconds later Soheil Ayari and Andreas Simonsen (again) made contact. Two damaged cars were left stranded on the track and the safety car was deployed.

As the safety car pulled in again Rast tried to pull away from the rest of the field and only Parente was able to follow him. What then followed was a thrilling fight for the lead between the German and the Portuguese. Parente made several attempts to pass Rast at the end of the long straight, but he was unable to pass the Audi. It was only when Rast made his mandatory pit stop after 21 laps that Parente was able to take the lead.

One lap later Parente made his pit stop and handed over the #9 Sebastien Loeb Racing McLaren MP4-12C GT3 to Sebastien Loeb. Loeb returned to the track 2.5 seconds behind Niki Mayr-Melnhof, but within a matter of laps the gap was reduced to just a couple of tenths and a new battle for the lead began.

Loeb tried to pass Mayr-Melnhof several times at the end of the straight, but whatever he tried the Audi retained the lead. On lap 29, with 15 minutes remaining in the race, Loeb seemed to take the lead, but he ran a bit wide and Mayr-Melnhof moved back in front again.

From that moment on Loeb increased pressure on the WRT Audi and, after more unsuccessful attempts, he made his final move seven minutes before the end of the race. Once again at the end of the straight Loeb went moved across the track and forced his Austrian rival into a small mistake. Loeb took advantage and passed the Audi to take the lead - much to the delight of the many French spectators around the track.

In the remaining minutes Loeb was able to pull away and after 39 laps he crossed the line in first place, over five seconds clear of Mayr-Melnhof. The Austrian had to defend his position in the final laps when 2012 FIA GT3 European Champion Maximilian Buhk in the HTP Gravity Charouz Mercedes closed the gap and tried to take second from him. Fortunately for Mayr-Melnhof and the WRT team there was not enough time left for the attack to succeed and the #12 Audi finished the race just under two tenths of second clear of the Mercedes.

The Phoenix Racing Audi of Anthony Kumpen and Enzo Ide finished in fourth place, 25 seconds behind the winners, with Cesar Campanico and Carlos Viera (Novadriver Audi) in fifth place, seven tenths behind the Phoenix Audi.

The Nissan GT Academy Team RJN cars Nissan GT-R’s finished the race in 14th and 19th position. In the #35 car Alex Buncombe was in the top six before the pit stops, Lucas Ordonez was unable to maintain that position and dropped to tenth place, before colliding with the BMW Z4 GT3 of Armaan Ebrahim. Ordonez returned to the pit one lap before the end and parked his car. In the second car Wolfgang Reip showed his potential. After the pit stops the Belgian driver was able to match the lap times set by experienced drivers like Anthony Kumpen and Stéphane Ortelli.