Aurélien and Olivier Panis win race 1 at Paul Ricard

After five years of absence, Olivier Panis, who came to support his son Aurélien on this final of FFSAGT at Paul Ricard, shone in the Var night this Saturday.

The tandem has largely imposed its Toyota GR Supra GT4 n°30 – Toyota Gazoo Racing France by CMR on this first race of the final after a head and shoulders dominated event.

The departure was marked by the accident of Théo Nouet (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 n°007 – AGS Events), came to hit the outside wall quite violently on the pit straight before the first turn. More fear than harm fortunately for the driver, who got out of his car under his own power, while the safety car was deployed.

At the restart, Aurélien Panis remains leader ahead of Robert Consani (Alpine A110 n°8 – Team SpeedCar). It's a little further that we have to look to witness a tough fight between the rivals for the Silver Cup title between Edouard Cauhaupé (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°2 – CD Sport) and Ricardo van der Ende (BMW M4 GT4 n°17 ​​– L’Espace Bienvenue).

If van der Ende spends a time in front of Cauhaupé's Mercedes in the first stint, the latter regains the advantage after the driver changes since Fabien Lavergne overtakes Benjamin Lessennes at the Pont bend.

The #4 BMW M4 GT17 was then penalized for causing contact and fell down the standings, playing into the hands of the #2 Mercedes in the race for the Silver championship.

Scenario with twists and turns

At the forefront, Olivier Panis, relaying his son Aurélien in the No. 30 Toyota, maintains a clear lead over theAlpine #8 of Benjamin Lariche and the #2 Mercedes of Fabien Lavergne.

We then think that the hierarchy will not change until the checkered flag, before the Mercedes of Fabien Lavergne is forced to stop at the side of the track after a mechanical problem, possibly after contact with theAlpine No. 222 – Mirage Racing, incident under investigation.

Andrea Bénézet and Paul Evrard (Alpine A110 GT4 n°60 – CMR) finally completed the podium in the Silver Cup behind the Panis family and the Lariche – Consani duo. Note that Olivier and Aurélien Panis do not score points in this event, the crew having been changed for this final.

In Pro-Am, victory goes toAlpine A110 n°222 – Mirage Racing of Rodolphe Wallgren and Vincent Beltoise, 3rd overall, and ahead of the individual rankingAlpine A110 n°36 – CMR of Christopher Campbell and Nicolas Cheers and the No. 4 Aston Martin Vantage GT89 – AGS Events of Mike Parisy and Nicolas Gomar.

Once fourth, Grégory Guilvert and Fabien Michal (Audi R8 LMS GT4 n°42 – Saintéloc Racing) were penalized with a drive-through before visibly experiencing brake problems which caused them to fall back in the standings.

In the Am Cup, César Gazeau and Wilfried Cazalbon (Toyota GR Supra GT4 n°66 – CMR) imposed themselves and carried out an excellent operation in the championship, since the No. 8 Audi R4 LMS GT5 – Team Fullmotorsport of Pascal Huteau and Christophe Hamon encountered problems during the event, the mechanics even pushing the Audi into its box.

In the Silver classification, Benjamin Lessennes and Ricard van der Ende will enter the last race with a seven-point lead (188 against 181) to Edouard Cauhaupé and Fabien Lavergne while Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani are 15 points behind.

In Pro-Am, the Guilvert – Michal pair maintains a 23-point lead over the Beltoise – Wallgrenn crew, when César Gazeau and Wilfried Cazalbon took control in the Am Cup. The different titles will be awarded tomorrow at the end of the last round of the season, scheduled for 14:50 p.m.