GT3 Nogaro race review

The tension is rising in the FIA GT3 European Championship as the series heads towards a climax – and as it does, so the on-track dramas become ever more intense. James Ruffier and Arnaud Peyroles have first-hand experience of those dramas; on Saturday at Nogaro the duo, driving the No.1 Martini Callaway Racing Corvette Z.06R GT3, were forced out of a podium finish by a problem with the differential - but on Sunday they claimed victory and the overall lead of the Championship.

They led home the No.29 AutoGT Racing Morgan Aero 8 GT3 of Johan-Boris Scheier and Gaël Lesoudier, with the No.21 Matech GT Racing Ford GT of Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis in third.

Starting from pole, Ruffier made a poor start and dropped to third, behind the No.20 Matech Ford GT of Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch, and the No.10 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Makowiecki and Lagniez. Behind them there was an incident as the cars jostled for position around the long second corner, sending several cars across the grass, but no real damage was done. The top three pulled away from the field, with none of them able to relax. On lap 6 Ruffier managed to get past the Aston Martin, but dropped a second back from the Ford – a big gap, by the standards of these three.

He caught the Ford, and several times looked to outbrake Mutsch at the end of the long back straight, but a brake problem meant he couldn’t make the move work, so he opted to hold station until the pit-stops. Not even a brief safety car period, to allow a stricken car to be removed from a gravel trap, gave Ruffier the chance to take the lead. Behind the top three the No.2 Martini Callaway Corvette of Bert and Meir ran fourth, until a problem with a wheel working loose dropped them well down the order.

While there were relatively few incidents, and not much passing, there was some close, exciting racing; on lap 8 there was just 1.6sec covering the four cars from eighth to eleventh – and that was before the safety car closed them up! One victim of the close racing was the No.14 S-Berg Racing Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Kraihamer and Retera; their race ended when they were tapped into a half-spin by a pursuing Porsche – which then clipped the front of the Lamborghini, breaking the radiator.

As usual the leading cars left their pit-stops until the last possible moment; when they rejoined, the top three places were still the same. But not for long; it took Peyroles just two laps to catch and overtake Khan with a clean outbraking move at the end of the back straight. Lagniez was struggling for pace in the Aston Martin and was dropping back; at the same time Lesoudier, in the No.29 AutGT Morgan, was mounting a fine charge from sixth, taking third with just over ten minutes of the hour-long race remaining.

But just a lap later that became second when more drama hit the No.20 Matech Ford GT; a problem with the differential forced Khan to stop with only eight minutes remaining. This was heartbreak for Khan and Mutsch; they had come to Nogaro with a slender two-point lead and left empty-handed. By this time Peyroles was well clear, and Lesoudier now had a comfortable cushion ahead of third – but from third to sixth was covered by under two seconds!

In the space of three laps Lagniez found himself demoted from third to seventh, with the group now headed by the No.40 Mühlner Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S of Vosse and Jirik, coming under intense pressure from the No.19 Matech Ford GT of Pirri and von Gartzen; the No.21 Matech Ford GT of Mortimer and Ellis took fifth, just ahead of the No.8 Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Accary and Mena.

The final podium position was only decided on the final half of the final lap; going into a right-hander, Pirri tried to go down the inside and hit the Porsche, pushing both of them off track. That let the No.21 Ford GT through into third, with the No.8 Aston Martin going through to fourth; Pirri brought the No.21 Ford home in fifth, ahead of the No.40 Porsche. But after the race the stewards decided Pirri was at fault in the incident and handed out a 30-second penalty, dropping the No.21 car to eleventh.

With the No.5 Kessel Racing Ferrari F430 GT3 of Balbiani and Ricci finishing sixth, that meant there were six different makes of car in the top six places - it also means that Jose Manuel Balbiani is the 2008 Ferrari Cup Champion. By contrast Ian Khan and Thomas Mutsch, the No.20 Matech Ford GT pair who came to Nogaro two points clear of Ruffier and Peyroles, had a disastrous weekend – besides their mechanical trouble in this race, they were punted out of contention in the first race.

So Peyroles and Ruffier will head to the final two races of the GT3 Championship, in Dubai at the beginning of December, with an eight-point lead over Khan and Mutsch. Accary and Mena are just one point further back, level on points with Bradley Ellis. Two races, with everything to play for: the FIA GT3 European Championship is set for a grandstand finish.

- Martin Buck -  photos SRO