An action-packed, high-attrition race round the redesigned Magny-Cours circuit in France saw Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi take their second win of the season.





Practice

Handicap Weights
After winning in Barcelona, the nr. 23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello of Biagi and Bobbi will carry 40 kg penalty weight while the team's nr. 22 car, driven by Gollin and Cappellari will carry 30 kg.  The nr. 21 Care Racing Ferrari, of Bryner, Calderari and Livio, has 20 kg. In N-GT, the nr. 52 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena will have 20 kg, while the nr. 88 and 89 Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena cars will carry 15 and 10 kg respectively.

First Free Practice Session : Lister Racing and EMKA Racing lead the field
The cars and drivers of the FIA GT Championship tried out the new Magny-Cours layout, with an altered final corner and approach to the pit-lane straight, for the first time during today's first free practice session. Lister continued to prove that Magny-Cours suits the Storm cars by setting the fastest time in the 90-minute session, with a lap of 1:37.781 for Jamie Campbell-Walter in the nr. 14 car.  The second-fastest car was the Barcelona-winning nr. 23 Ferrari 550 Maranello of Biagi and Bobbi, with the nr. 7 Saleen S7-R of Erdos and Newton third.  The nr. 1 Larbre was the fastest of the Vipers, although the car lost time due to a problem with a fuel pipe.  The nr. 12 Proton Porsche 911 GT2 hit the wall at the last corner, with Christian Ried at the wheel, damaging the rear of the car and the axle. 

In N-GT, the nr 61 EMKA Racing Porsche of Tim Sugden and Martin Short dominated the session, setting a time of 1:42.833. They were followed by the nr. 88 Team Maranello Ferrari 360 Modena of Davies and Mullen, with the nr. 50 Freisinger Porsche 996 GT3-RS of Ortelli and Lieb third.


Second Free Practice Session : Repeat performance from Lister and EMKA Racing
The second session also saw the Lister Storm cars dominate the session.  Although Jamie Campbell-Walter remained fastest, he was followed by the second Lister Racing car, with Andrea Piccini closing to within four tenths of Campbell-Walter. The nr. 7 Saleen S7-R of Erdos and Newton remained third, improving on their morning time, while the nr. 1 Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper set the fourth time, with a lap of 1:38.899.  Having changed an engine, the nr. 23 BMS Ferrari was fifth, with the nr. 5 Force One Festina Chrysler Viper GTS-R of Hezemans and Kumpen an excellent sixth, having been off the pace in Barcelona.

The Porsche cars led the second session times in the N-GT class. The nr. 61 EMKA Racing car was still the fastest, with a best lap of 1:43.261. Ortelli and Lieb, in the nr. 50 Freisinger Porsche, were only 7 thousandths of a second behind them, while the nr. 99 RWS Yukos car of Daoudi and Lechner was an excellent third.  The Czech MenX Ferrari 360 Modena of Enge and Pergl was the fastest of the Ferrari cars, with the former F3000 frontrunner looking forward to tomorrow's qualifying at a circuit he particularly enjoys.


Qualifying

First Qualifying Session
The rain began to fall heavily shortly before the session began, and a wet practice was declared.  Despite two red-flag periods, one of which allowed the nr. 18 Zwaan's Racing Viper to be removed from the gravel, times fell gradually. The Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen of Erdos and Newton was fastest early on, to be replaced at the top of the lists by Bouchut, with a time of 1:57.245. Towards the very end of the session, the nr. 23 Ferrari 550 Maranello moved to the top, with Bobbi at the wheel. The nr. 2 Konrad Motorsport Saleen set the third time as the chequered flag fell to close the session. The nr. 21 and 22 BMS cars were fourth and fifth respectively, with the nr. 14 Lister sixth, ahead of the much-improved nr. 4 Force One Chrysler Viper. The nr. 15 Lister was down in 15th place, Piccini having spun a number of times whilst attempting to adapt to the car in the wet conditions.

N-GT was dominated by the Porsches, with the Cirtek Motorsport fast at the start.  However, Adam Jones' time of 2:02.166 was soon eclipsed by the nr. 50 Freisinger car, with Marc Lieb taking provisional pole.  The nr. 61 EMKA Racing car was the next to improve, moving up to second place, while the second Freisinger Porsche of Gardel and Longin set the third time in the class.  The leading Ferrari was the 88 TMC Ferrari 360 Modena of Davies and Mullen, in fourth place.


Second Qualifying Session
The second session was even wetter than the first, and at the start it looked as if there would be no improvements whatsoever.  However, although the top eight places of the grid did not change, a number of cars did manage to improve their grid positions towards the end of the session.  Fastest overall was the nr 14 Lister Storm, with Jamie Campbell-Walter setting a time of 2:00.678.  He was followed by two N-GT cars, with the nr. 99 RWS Yukos Porsche setting the second time overall, and improving to second place on the N-GT grid for tomorrow's race.  The nr. 5 Force One Viper of Kumpen and Hezemans also improved, with Kumpen fourth overall and improving to 13th on the grid.  Fifth, and fastest Ferrari in the session, was Tomas Enge in the nr. 57 MenX car, with the nr. 4 Creation Lister Storm sixth overall, improving his grid position to 20th.


Race

An action-packed, high-attrition race round the redesigned Magny-Cours circuit in France saw Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi take their second win of the season. Second place for their team-mates Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari further extended BMS Scuderia Italia's Championship lead.  The Lister Storm of  Andrea Piccini and Jean-Denis Deletraz took third place.  In N-GT, Team Maranello Concessionaires confirmed their early season promise, taking their first victory. Burt and Turner crossed the line first, but their Ferrari 360 Modena was later excluded due to the capacity of the fuel tank. This promoted Davies and Mullen to the lead, with the Freisinger Porsche of Lieb and Ortelli second, and Autopalace drivers Gomez and Hiesse third. Team Maranello Concessionaires have appealed the decision, and therefore the result of the race remains provisional, pending the appeal.

Weather : After the torrential rain on Saturday, Sunday stayed dry, and 47000 spectators came to watch the races, bringing the weekend total to 60000.

GT : BMS Scuderia Italia wins through
A repeat of the Barcelona double for BMS Scuderia Italia looked far from certain today, with the nr. 23 and 22 cars only coming to the fore in the latter stages of the race, as assorted mechanical problems befell the rest of the field.  Bouchut, in the nr. 1 Larbre Viper, took the lead at the start, and dominated the early stages of the race, building up a good lead.  He was followed by the nr. 2 Saleen, which was involved in a fine battle with Bobbi, in the nr. 23 Ferrari.  The Saleen's progress finished on lap 14, the car pulling off the track.  The next car to shine briefly was the nr. 5 Force One Viper, with Mike Hezemans climbing up to second place, overtaking both the nr. 23 Ferrari and the nr. 14 Lister on one lap, before retiring with engine problems on lap 18.  The Larbre Competition Viper continued to lead until the first pit stop, when a radiator leak was diagnosed and the car retired.  This left Jamie Campbell-Walter, in the nr. 14 Lister, at the front.  He was soon joined by Piccini, in the nr. 15 Storm, and the British team looked to be on course for a fine result.  The nr. 23 car, however, was never far behind, and during the final hour, a good battle took place between Bobbi and Piccini.  Piccini, suffering from a tyre problem, was not able to resist, and with 21 minutes to go, Bobbi took second place. Piccini pulled into the pits to change the left rear tyre, dropping down to fourth. The nr. 14 Lister had a lead of over half a minute, and appeared unassailable. But bad luck hit Campbell-Walter for the second race in a row, with a broken accelerator cable forcing him to retire with only 14 minutes to go, although the car was still classified 6th. This left the two BMS cars with a comfortable victory, while Piccini brought the remaining Storm in third place.
Behind them, the nr. 11 Roos-Optima Chrysler Viper finished fourth, having started from 24th on the grid. The nr. 8 Graham Nash Saleen of Amorim, Chaves and Ramos was fifth, with Verdon-Roe and Zadra, in the Creation Lister, seventh after running into problems at the end of the race. Wieth Racing picked up the final point for eighth, the team's first point since starting work on their own version of the Ferrari 550 Maranello two years ago.
Neither JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello made it to the finish, while the nr. 18 Zwaan's Racing Chrysler Viper, having started from the last line of the grid, made it up to fifth place before retiring with engine problems.

In the GT points, BMS Scuderia Italia has a 22 points lead over Lister Racing, with the Swedish Roos-Optima Racing Team third.  Biagi and Bobbi, who set the fastest lap with a time of 1:38.625,  jointly lead the Drivers Classification, ahead of Gollin and Cappellari, with Piccini and Deletraz third.

N-GT : First victory for Team Maranello Concessionaires
The N-GT race today was incredibly close, with a number of leader changes, and some disappointing non-finishes for cars which showed great promise for much of the race.  The leading N-GT car finished sixth in the overall classification, with only 1.93 seconds separating the top two cars.
The nr. 50 Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS, with Ortelli at the wheel, led at the start. Setting the fastest lap on lap 9, with a time of 1:44.283,  he was followed by two other Porsches, the nr. 61 EMKA Porsche and the nr. 99 RWS Yukos Porsche 996 GT3-R.  Tim Sugden, with the speed he has shown all weekend, then took the lead in the nr. 61 EMKA Porsche.  On lap 31, the nr. 50 Freisinger Porsche lost a wheel, and made slow progress back to the pits to replace it.  Lieb therefore took the wheel earlier than had been planned, spoiling the team's strategy.

The EMKA and RWS cars were followed by both Team Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 360 Modena cars.  On lap 38, after a racing incident between the nr 75 Eurotech Porsche and the Autopalace Ferrari 360 Modena, the Autopalace car lost a door.  However, the car was otherwise undamaged and was able to continue.

Although the nr. 50 was recovering well, it looked as if the nr. 61 EMKA Porsche was heading for a win.  However, shortly after its second pit stop, the car pulled off to the side after the Adelaide hairpin, with a broken engine.  The nr. 99 RWS Yukos Porsche, of Daoudi and Lechner then led, stopping on lap 89 for a splash and dash. This left the nr. 88 TMC car in the lead, ahead of the nr. 50 Freisinger Porsche and the nr. 89 TMC Ferrari, fighting for second position.  A spin for the nr. 89 meant that the nr. 50 had to take avoiding action, but both cars continued, the nr. 50 dropping back to third.  Trouble hit another Porsche, with the fourth-placed nr. 99 RWS car stopping four laps from the end with a broken driveshaft.  A final splash and dash for the nr. 88 did not prove enough for the car, which had to slow down to avoid running out of fuel, and left the nr. 89 TMC car of Burt and Turner to cross the line first, having made only one pit stop. It was followed by the nr. 88 and the nr. 50 Freisinger Porsche.  The Autopalace, without a door, took fourth place for the second race in a row, with the second Freisinger Porsche of Gardel and Longin fifth.  Sixth went to the nr. 54 Cirtek Motorsport car of Kaye and Pompidou, with the Barcelona-winning nr. 52 JMB Racing Ferrari seventh, and the final point going to the nr. 74 Team Eurotech Porsche of Jordan and Sumpter.

"It's a great finish after a bad start to the weekend, when we did not run on Friday." Kelvin Burt said. "It was an exciting race as at the end we did not know where everyone was! We really have to thank Dunlop for this excellent result."  However, after scrutineering, their car was excluded, from the results, due to the fuel tank capacity.  The team has appealed, therefore the results remain provisional.

In the provisional Teams classification, Team Maranello Concessionaires has a 13-point lead over JMB Racing and Freisinger Motorsport, with French team Autopalace fourth.  Davies and  Mullen lead the Drivers table, followed by JMB drivers De Simone and Bertolini.

The next round takes place in Pergusa, Italy, on May 11th, in just two weeks time.

Results:

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