FFSA GT: Meyuhas and Bastard win in Race 1 at Lédenon

The drivers of the French Championship FFSAGT were very impatient for the start of the school year on the Circuit de Lédenon, scene of the fifth round of the French FFSA GT Championship. Enough to give us a first race full of incidents and twists and turns at all levels of the peloton!

Silver Cup: third victory for Meyuhas-Bastard

Poleman and first leader, Victor Weyrich quickly encountered gearbox problems on theAston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 #74 from Racing Spirit of Léman. All profit for the two Audis who were constantly in his wake.

After a very tough duel, Gaël Castelli (Audi R8 LMS GT4 #111 – CSA Racing) managed to get the better of Roee Meyuhas (Audi R8 LMS GT4 #14 – Saintéloc Racing) and was in the lead at the time of the mandatory driver change.

Unfortunately, a coolant leak prevented his teammate Alexandre Cougnaud from getting back on the track...

Having relayed Roee Meyuhas, Erwan Bastard saw Stéphane Lémeret (Toyota GR Supra GT4 #30 – CMR), whose teammate Stéphane Tribaudini had started from 13th place on the starting grid.

Despite the enormous pressure from the Belgian, Erwan Bastard did not make the slightest mistake and the #14 Audi of Saintéloc Racing won for the third time in the Silver Cup. Thanks to this success, which is also their ninth finish in the top 3 in nine races, the Meyuhas-Bastard duo widens the gap in the championship on Ricardo van der Ende and Benjamin Lessennes, third in the Silver Cup this Saturday.

Even though they have limited the damage, the drivers of the BMW M4 GT4 of L'Espace Bienvenue are now 36 points behind. With Thomas Drouet-Paul Evrard (Akkodis-ASP) and Arno Santamato-Fabien Lavergne (CD Sport), two Mercedes-AMG GT4 completed the top 5 in the category.

Pro-Am: status quo in the championship

The Pro-Am championship could have completely bounced back during this first Lédenon race. Third in the provisional classification, Julien Piguet (who teams up with Alban Varutti on the Porsche of AVR-Avvatar) was the victim of a collision with Viny Beltramelli (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #31 – CD Sport) and Enzo Joulié (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #87 – Akkodis-ASP) on the first lap.

The two crews leading the Pro-Am championship, however, were unable to take advantage of the opportunity to escape. Having fallen from 5th position on the starting grid to 15th at the end of the first lap, Nicolas Cheers then Rudy Servol returned to the podium with theAlpine A110 GT4 from the CMR team… until the championship leader's mistake!

Rudy Servol was in fact surprised in the triple left and ended his race in the gravel trap, causing the Safety Car to go up the track.

So in the lead, Éric Trémoulet and Olivier Jouffret could have taken the opportunity to take the lead in the provisional classification, but that was without taking into account a pit stop that was too short for the Mercedes-AMG of Team Jouffruit by Vic'Team, forced to pass a second time through the pit lane.

Against all expectations given the eighteenth position on the starting grid, it was the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport #121 driven by Timothé Buret and Christopher Campbell which won in Pro-Am after a superb comeback.

Already winners of the second race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), the two drivers of the K-Worx team did not take long to do it again. The podium was completed by two Mercedes-AMGs from Akkodis-ASP: the #16 of Jim Pla-Fabien Barthez and the #81 of Simon Gachet-Éric Debard.

After the tribute paid to the Queen of England Elizabeth II before the start, the Aston Martins would have liked to shine the British colors, but the #13 of Mirage Racing (with Valentin Hasse-Clot and Arnold Robin) and the #7 d AGS Events (led by Hugo Bac and Nicolas Gomar) finished just off the podium.

Am Cup: Coubard and Rédélé counterattack

The Am Cup championship continues to rebound! By winning the category during this first race at Lédenon, Laurent Coubard and Jean-Charles Rédélé (Alpine A110 GT4 #76 – Bodemer Auto) carried out an excellent operation in the championship by returning in the wake of Christophe Hamon and Michaël Blanchemain (Audi R8 LMS GT4 #69 – Team Fullmotorsport), fourth after losing time following a contact that left them sent into a spin at the start of the race.

Without a spin following a touch, the polemen Gwenaël Delomier and David Levy could perhaps have won too, but the CMR duo nevertheless offered a double to the Alpine A110 GT4 resisting the return of the Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 from GPA Racing driven by Kevin Jimenez and Florent Grizaud.

Behind Christophe Hamon and Michael Blanchemain, fifth place went to Aurélien Robineau and Paul Paranthoen (Mercedes-AMG GT4 #3 – CD Sport).

See you on Sunday at 14:50 p.m. for the second race of the FFSA GT French Championship in Lédenon. You can see it live on AUTOhebdo.fr, the GTWorld YouTube channel, and Automoto the channel from 14:35 p.m.

The results of Race 1 of the FFSA GT meeting in Lédenon can be found here.