Castelli – Wallgren and Mirage Racing winners in race 1

They had pocketed the very first victory of the FFSAGT GT4 version in 2017 right here in Nogaro, they did it again this year. Gaël Castelli and Rodolphe Wallgren (Alpine A110 GT4 n°222 – Mirage Racing) dominated the first race of the French FFSA GT Championship on the Gers route of Nogaro, bathed in bright sunshine on this Easter Sunday.

Starting from pole, Alain Ferté (Alpine A110 GT4 n°35 – Bodemer Auto) retained his advantage at the first corner against Enzo Joulié, when Nelson Lukes (Ginetta G55 GTN n°23 – K-Works) found the opening by passing two wheels through the grass to get move up to third position at the start of the Ferme bend.

The positions stabilized in the first quarter of an hour before Olivier Estèves (Audi R8 LMS GT4 n°21 – Saintéloc Racing) made a mistake at turn n°3 and caused a Full Course Yellow then the The safety car comes into action to bring together all these beautiful people.

At the restart, Alain Ferté still leads the peloton, while Nelson Lukes will lose two positions in the long snail leading to the straight of the aerodrome, leaving Paul Evrard (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°88 – AKKA-ASP) and Romain Leroux (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 n°7 – AGS Events) move up the hierarchy.

The leader then brings back his Alpine in the pit lane shortly after the driver change window opened, leaving Enzo Joulie in the lead.

A nod to history

After the various stops, however, it was Gaël Castelli, relaying Rodolphe Wallgren on theAlpine A110 n°222 – Mirage Racing which emerges in the lead, Grégoire Demoustier, teammate of Alain Ferté, having been forced to return to the pits following a technical problem.

Castelli then precedes Timothé Buret (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°88 – AKKA-ASP), Nicolas Cheers (Alpine A110 GT4 n°36 – CMR), Mike Parisy (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 n°89 – AGS Events) and Valentin Hasse-Clot (Aston Martin Vantage GT4 n°7 – AGS Events).

However, the safety car came into action again after a second Full Course Yellow, following Vincent Beltoise's exit from the track (Alpine A110 GT4 n°13 – Mirage Racing) after braking at the end of the airfield straight.

The last restart a little less than 13′ from the checkerboard allows Castelli to retain first place, the positions no longer changing until the finish, Castelli winning overall and in Pro-Am.

Timothé Buret and Paul Evrard, 2nd under the checkerboard, dominate the Silver category, when Nicolas Prost and Rudy Servol finished 3rd and 2nd in the Pro-Am. Mike Parisy and Nicolas Gomar finished the event in 4th position and 3rd in the Pro-Am when Valentin Hasse-Clot and Romain Leroux completed the top 5 and the Silver podium.

In the Am Cup, Christophe Hamon and Pascal Huteau (Audi R8 LMS GT4 n°5 – Fullmotorsport) win. The second race of the FFSA GT will start tomorrow Monday at 13:50 p.m.