Gerard Tonelli and Renaud Derlot scored a fine double victory for Graff Racing’s new Mercedes AMG SLS in the opening round of the FFSA GT Championship at Ledenon last weekend.
The PRO GT by Almeras Porsche of Laurent Pasquali and Anthony Beltoise led the early stages of race 1 in a closely-fought battle at the front and, after Pasquali’s stop during the pit window, Beltoise maintained the team’s advantage.
However, with his tyres degrading badly, Beltoise soon fell into the clutches of the similar Porsche of reigning champions Larbre Competition, which Patrick Bornhauser had handed to Laurent Groppi.
Groppi made his move on lap 30 to take the lead, while Derlot followed him through one tour later to set up a grandstand finish.
With less than 25 minutes of the race remaining, Groppi pitted to make his second mandatory stop just as the Safety Car was called after a Lamborghini spun out.
Chaos reigned thereafter as the Safety Car failed to pick up the leader, while half the field dived into the pits to make their stops.
When the dust settled, Ludovic Badey emerged ahead in his Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari 458, but a stop/go penalty soon after for speeding in the pit lane handed Tonelli and Derlot the lead.
Due to the Safety Car madness, race commissaries ultimately decided to call the results at 35 laps, giving Tonelli and Derlot a controversial victory ahead of the Larbre Porsche in second and the PRO GT Porsche of Pasquali and Beltoise in third.
Race 2 proved to be a more straightforward win for the Graff Racing pair as Derlot jumped into the lead at the first corner ahead of Badey.
After the compulsory pit stop, Jean-Luc Beaubelique assumed the lead having taken over from Badey, but he couldn’t keep the Mercedes at bay as Tonelli made the race-winning move on lap 29.
Beaubelique held on for second place while David Hallyday and Stephane Ortelli rounded out the podium in their Team Audi France Audi R8 LMS.
In the Gentlemen Trophy class, Roland Berville and Jean-Pierre Champeau took race 1 honours in their Sport Garage Ferrari F430 Scuderia, while former Manchester United and France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez won race 2 in the Team Sofrev ASP Ferrari F430 he shares with Gilles Duqueine,
FFSA GT Championship results – Round 1, Ledenon
Race 1
1 Gerard Tonelli / Renaud Derlot, Graff Racing, Mercedes AMG SLS, 35 laps 50:31.122
2 Patrick Bornhauser / Laurent Groppi, Larbre Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +1.046
3 Laurent Pasquali / Anthony Beltoise, PRO GT by Almeras, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +3.064
4 David Hallyday / Stephane Ortelli, Team Audi France, Audi R8 LMS, +11.229
5 Nicolas Tardif / Gregory Guilvert, Sainteloc, Audi R8 LMS, +24.661
6 Paul Lamic / Frederic Gabillon, LMP Motorsport, Aston Martin DBRS9, +25.771
7 Jean-Claude Police / Laurent Cazenave, PRO GT by Almeras, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +30.683
8 Gabriel Balthazard / Olivier Pla, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari F458 Italia, +32.323
9 Eric Debard / Olivier Panis, Graff Racing, Mercedes AMG SLS, +35.171
10 Jean-Luc Beaubelique / Ludovic Badey, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari 458 Italia, +37.192
11 Eric Clement / Philippe Gache, SMG, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +1:04.931
12 Arthur Belynie / Romain Brandela, Alpina Watches, BMW Z4, +1:05.213
13 Lionel Comole / Morgan Moullin-Traffort, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 GT, +1 lap
14 (GT) Roland Berville / Jean-Pierre Champeau, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 Scuderia, +1 lap
15 (GT) Patrice Madeleine / Florent Priez, JSB Competition, Lamborghini Gallardo, +1 lap
16 Christian Beroujon / Kevin Despinasse, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 GT, +1 lap
17 (GT) Jean-Paul Buffin / Philippe Ullmann, ASP Competition, Lamborghini Gallardo, +2 laps
18 (GT) Patrick Laubert / Didier van Straaten, Ruffier Racing, Lamborghini Gallardo, +8 laps
Not classified
Marc Sourd / Dino Lunardi, Sainteloc, Audi R8 LMS, 17 laps
Luc Paillard / Dimitri Enjalbert, LMP Motorsport, Aston Martin DBRS9, 6 laps
Jean-Claude Lagniez / Julien Piguet, Team Cine Cascade, Lamborghini Gallardo, 2 laps
(GT) Fabien Barthez / Gilles Duqueine, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari F430, 0 laps
Race 2
1 Gerard Tonelli / Renaud Derlot, Graff Racing, Mercedes AMG SLS, 32 laps 45:30.852
2 Jean-Luc Beaubelique / Ludovic Badey, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari 458 Italia, +1.402
3 David Hallyday / Stephane Ortelli, Team Audi France, Audi R8 LMS, +2.308
4 Laurent Pasquali / Anthony Beltoise, PRO GT by Almeras, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +22.206
5 Gabriel Balthazard / Olivier Pla, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari F458 Italia, +30.960
6 Patrick Bornhauser / Laurent Groppi, Larbre Competition, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +31.891
7 Eric Debard / Olivier Panis, Graff Racing, Mercedes AMG SLS, +38.718
8 Paul Lamic / Frederic Gabillon, LMP Motorsport, Aston Martin DBRS9, +39.718
9 Luc Paillard / Dimitri Enjalbert, LMP Motorsport, Aston Martin DBRS9, +45.007
10 Jean-Claude Lagniez / Julien Piguet, Team Cine Cascade, Lamborghini Gallardo, +48.858
11 Nicolas Tardif / Gregory Guilvert, Sainteloc, Audi R8 LMS, +53.431
12 Arthur Belynie / Romain Brandela, Alpina Watches, BMW Z4, +54.782
13 Marc Sourd / Dino Lunardi, Sainteloc, Audi R8 LMS, +1:14.563
14 Jean-Claude Police / Laurent Cazenave, PRO GT by Almeras, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +1 lap
15 Christian Beroujon / Kevin Despinasse, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 GT, +1 lap
16 Eric Clement / Philippe Gache, SMG, Porsche 911 GT3 R, +1 lap
17 (GT) Fabien Barthez / Gilles Duqueine, Team Sofrev ASP, Ferrari F430, +2 laps
18 (GT) Patrice Madeleine / Florent Priez, JSB Competition, Lamborghini Gallardo, +2 laps
19 (GT) Jean-Paul Buffin / Philippe Ullmann, ASP Competition, Lamborghini Gallardo, +2 laps
20 (GT) Patrick Laubert / Didier van Straaten, Ruffier Racing, Lamborghini Gallardo, +3 laps
21 (GT) Roland Berville / Jean-Pierre Champeau, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 Scuderia, +5 laps
Not classified
Lionel Comole / Morgan Moullin-Traffort, Sport Garage, Ferrari F430 GT, 2 laps
Next round: 23-25 April, Nogaro
Andy Wilkinson
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