FIA GT – Team WRT makes a double at Nogaro (MAJ)

The Audi R8 LMS ultra were clearly the most competitive cars in the rain that fell in Nogaro. With a flying start after two covered laps under safety car regime, Sébastien Loeb retained the advantage at the wheel of his McLaren MP4-12C n°9 against the Audi n°12 of Niki Mayr-Melnhof without managing to widen the gap on its pursuer. In the peloton, the two other R8 LMS of Team WRT cautiously climbed the rankings, taking advantage of the errors of opponents trapped by the slippery track of the Paul Armagnac circuit.

The pit stops marked a turning point in the race. René Rast managed to place his Audi at the head of the race in front of the McLaren of Alvaro Parente, but the Portuguese came into contact with the German's R8 LMS which fell to second place following a spin. If a penalty was to be expected for the #9 McLaren, the race direction imposed a drive-through on the leader after an error by the nine-time world champion. WRC which had come loose before the car came to a complete stop in the pits. The Sébastien Loeb Racing resident was only able to start again in sixth position.

René Rast found himself comfortably installed at the head of the race ahead of Edward Sandström's sister car #13 from the last row of the grid, the Swede having overtaken in turn the Mercedes SLS AMG n°1 THP Gravity Charouz of Alan Day and the R8 LMS ultra n°5 of Phoenix Racing driven by Enzo Ide. The fight for the last step of the podium thus seemed to be decided between THP Gravity Charouz and Phoenix Racing, but Laurens Vanthoor achieved a monumental end to the race by overtaking both cars on the last lap to snatch third place and thus offer the hat-trick at Team WRT.

The final classification was modified after the race. The stewards imposed a 30-second penalty on René Rast and Niki Mayr-Melnhof for not switching off the engine early enough during the pit stop. The Mercedes of Buhk-Day thus recovers the last step of the podium on the green carpet in front of the No. 5 Audi of Kumpen Ide. The #9 McLaren of Loeb-Parente only finished 12th following a second penalty imposed for Alvaro Parente's collision with René Rast. The R8 LMS ultra n°14 Novadriver from Viera-Campanico thus inherits fifth place. Ordonez-Bucombe produced a superb race from the back of the grid to snatch sixth place with the Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo. The #600 Grasser Racing Lamborghini LP25+ of Baumann-Proczyk and the #4 BMW Z0 of Bueno-Khodair of Team Brazil finished 8th and 9th respectively behind the #18 Audi R12 which lost out on victory. Fabien Barthez and Gérard Tonelli win their second victory in the Gentlemen Trophy on the Ferrari 458 Italia n°31 from Sofrev ASP.

Click on this link to (re)watch the Nogaro Championship race.

Discover the report on the Nogaro Easter Cups produced by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.