France Takes Gold in GT Cup Main Race

Photo: Motorsport Games

France has scored a gold medal following victory in Saturday’s GT Cup main race by Simon Gachet and Eric Debard.

Debard took his Akkodis ASP-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo across the line under the safety car following an incident between the Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China entries that came together with less than six minutes to go.

It came despite an impressive recovery drive by Fabian Schiller for Germany, who gained more than 30 seconds in his stint in the SPS automotive performance Mercedes that was started by Valentin Pierburg.

Schiller came within five seconds of Debard prior to the safety car, which eliminated any chance of a late-race battle between the two Mercedes.

United Kingdom picked up bronze with a third place finish for Ian Loggie and Sam Neary, who was a late substitute for Chris Froggatt, while Poland came home fourth with drivers Marcin Jedlinski and Karol Basz.

The Polish Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II benefitted from a spin by Victor Gomez in the Puerto Rican Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 late in the 60-minute contest at Circuit Paul Ricard.

An earlier incident between Brazil and Ukraine saw Ivan Peklin spin out of second just prior to halfway in his Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Gachet stormed into a commanding early race lead while Pierburg dropped from second to fifth in the opening laps, with the team electing to box the German car at the opening of the pit window at the 25-minute mark.

Schiller was regularly the quickest car on the track although came up short due to the race neutralization, resulting in Germany settling for silver.

Switzerland completed the top-five followed by Puerto Rico, Australia, Lithuania, Brazil and Spain, which completed the top-ten.

RESULTS: GT Cup Main Race

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John