Weekend Racing Roundup, 9.29

A short Sportscar365 Weekend Racing Roundup this weekend, with action from the Autodromo Nazionale Monza and Circuit Paul Armagnac. At Monza the International GT Open held its penultimate round of the season, while the French GT teams went to Nogaro for the sixth round of the 2014 season.

International GT Open
The fight for the International GT Open title will continue in Spain, as none of the frontrunners was able to clinch the title at Monza this weekend. In fact, SMP Racing joined the fight, which now sees three teams separated by just four points.

In the first race Archie Hamilton started from pole, keeping Maxime Soulet behind. Miguel Ramos suffered a puncture, but managed to get the V8 Racing Corvette back to the pits. Soulet eventually passed Hamilton, while Ramos went straight again. After the stops Pastorelli suffered another puncture, causing the Corvette to retire. Kelvin Snoeks led the field, until a fuel problem caused him to drop down the order. He finished in fifth, while SMP Racing-Russian Bears’ Mavlanov and Zampieri won the race.

On Sunday Pastorelli started from pole and held onto the lead, despite losing the front bonnet. Mavlanov was eighth, Schirò was tenth, but the Italian Ferrari lost valuable time in the pits with an issue. After the stops Ramos led ahead of Soulet, with Maleev in third. On lap 29 Hamilton overtook Maleev, making it a Corvette 1-2-3 at the finish. Pastorelli and Ramos move to the top of the championship standings again.

Race 1 – 1. SMP Racing-Russian Bears (Mavlanov/Zampieri) Ferrari, 2. Selleslagh Racing (Hamilton/Tutumlu), 3. Villorba Corse (Montermini/Schirò) Ferrari.

Race 2 – 1. V8 Racing (Pastorelli/Ramos) Corvette, 2. V8 Racing (Snoeks/Soulet) Corvette, 3. Selleslagh Racing (Hamilton/Tutumlu) Corvette.

FFSA GT
The French GT championship was in action at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro this weekend.

Philippe Giauque started from pole in the first race and pulled away from Henry Hassid right from the start. As the cars behind him battled for second place, Giauque had a 12-second lead as he came in to hand the Ferrari over to Morgan Moullin Traffort, it was Vincent Abril who took the lead though. After the stops Moullin-Traffort battled with Gregory Guilvert, before going after Abril. After another fight, including contact, Moullin-Traffort passed Abril with 24 minutes left and went on to win.

After the race the winners, along with several others, were penalized for not complying with the regulations. The team appealed, the result is therefore provisional.

On Sunday it was the Audi of Henry Hassid and Mike Parisy that claimed victory and therefore leads the championship, ahead of the season finale at Paul Ricard next month. The Sébastien Loeb Racing Audi led the field by seven seconds at the halfway point. After the stops Hassid was behind Jean-Luc Beaubelique, but the French driver once again showed he’s fast and caught Beaubelique, passing him for the lead with four laps to go.

Race 1 – 1. SOFREV ASP (Giauque/Moullin Traffort) Ferrari, 2. Sainteloc Racing (Hallyday/Guilvert) Audi, 3. Sébastien Loeb Racing (Hassid/Parisy) Audi.

Race 2 – 1. Sébastien Loeb Racing (Hassid/Parisy) Audi, 2. SOFREV ASP (Beaubelique/Badey) Ferrari, 3. Sébastien Loeb Racing (Berville/Beltoise) Audi.