First success for the Beltoise – Estèves duo

Saintéloc Racing will therefore have been the best team to Magny-Cours. After the success of Grégory Guilvert and Fabien Michal yesterday in race 1, Anthony Beltoise and Olivier Estèves (No. 8 Audi R4 LMS GT21) signed their first joint success in FFSAGT, they who have been evolving together since 2017 and the launch of the GT4 in France.

Author of the pole, Beltoise retained his leading position at the first corner, while Jim Pla (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°87 – AKKA-ASP) crosses the gravel trap in Grande Courbe.

When braking at the Adelaide hairpin, the race lead changed in favor of Simon Gachet (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°81 – AKKA-ASP), who came to steal the leader Beltoise, who however remained second ahead of Eric Trémoulet (Mercedes- AMG GT4 n°64 – Jouffruit by Vic'Team) and Grégory Guilvert (Audi R8 LMS GT4 n°42 – Saintéloc Racing).

The race was immediately neutralized under safety car regime following the driver's exit from the track.Alpine A110 GT4 n°110 – CMR of Stéphane Lémeret.

On the effective restart after 5′ of racing, Simon Gachet immediately took a few lengths against Anthony Beltoise, followed by Grégory Guilvert, passed in front of Eric Trémoulet from the outside in Adelaide.

This little train of four cars did not let up during the entirety of the first stint, before Beltoise found the opening 33′ on Gachet from the finish after leaving the Adéläide hairpin. Then the driver changes begin, Grégory Guilvert being the first driver among the leading group to dive into the pitlane.

The peloton comes alive

The hierarchy evolves after the stops, since if Olivier Estèves, relay of Anthony Beltoise, retains the lead of the race, Eric Debard, teammate of Simon Gachet is now in second position ahead of Cyril Saleilles, who took over from Adrien Tambay . Fabien Michal and the No. 42 Audi fell to 8th position, not counting a 10″ penalty for excessive speed in the pits.

Followed by two errors a few seconds apart from Cyril Saleilles and Olivier Jouffret (Mercedes n°64), which allowed Rodolphe Wallgren (Alpine A110 GT4 n°222 – Mirage Racing), Fabien Barthez (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°16 – AKKA-ASP) and Fabien Michal to gain a position.

It was then Eric Debard who lost his second place, visibly the victim of contact at the front right forcing him to return to the pit lane. The end of the race finally sees Fabien Michal cross the line first, but that's good the Estèves – Beltoise duo which wins with the penalty received by the n°42.

Rodolphe Wallgren and Gaël Castelli finished 2nd ahead of Michal – Guilvert for a new 100% Pro-Am podium.

In the Silver Cup, yes Romain Leroux and Valentin Hasse-Clot impose their Aston Martin Vantage GT4 n°7 – AGS Events, Sacha Bottemane and Lonni Martins (Audi R8 LMS GT4 n°6 – Fullmotorsport) lost their second place, following contact suffered by Bottemane and caused by Paul Evrard (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°88 – AKKA-ASP), who will be logically penalized by 10″ on his race time.

The podium in the category is completed by Enzo Joulié and Sébastien Baud (Mercedes-AMG GT4 n°74 – CD Sport) and the Mercedes n°88 of Paul Evrard and Timothé Buret, 3rd despite their penalty.

In the Am Cup, Christophe Hamon and Pascal Huteau erased their disappointment from the day before with a success with the No. 8 Audi R4 LMS GT5 – Fullmotorsport.

Discover the full report of the Magny-Cours FFSA GT event, produced by our special correspondent in Nièvre, in issue 2311 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.