Jean Christophe Boullion and Laurent Redon finally scored the Courage C60's first International sportscar win at Magny Cours today after a brilliant tactical strategy saw them win by a minute from the Ferrari of Marco Zadra and Christian Pescatori.
After the teams disappointment at Estoril in the ELMS race just two weeks ago, where they finished first but were subsequently disqualified, Henri Pescarolo's team were determined to score their first win on home ground. And after early leader Jean Marc Gounon lost time due to a left rear puncture, the Courage was never threatened at the front and Boullion's team mate Laurent Redon cruised to the flag.
The former Sauber F1 driver was delighted that the lime green car had made the breakthrough in to the winners circle: "It was a fantastic job be the team today because we only half filled the car at the second stop and this worked perfectly. We were able to lap consistently fast all race and there was no problems at all."
BMS Scuderia Italia were pleased to finish in second place with their Ferrari 333SP after an altercation at the first corner filled the cars sidepods with grass. Away from the lights, Jean Marc Gounon's Kremer Racing Lola attempted to overtake the entire front row around the outside of the quick first turn. Squeezing John Nielsen in to the path of Pescatori who himself was easing through on the inside, contact was inevitable and it ended with the Ferrari negotiating much of Grande Courbe on the grass after a 140mph wheel banging match.
After the early stop, Pescatori carved his way through the field before handing over to championship leader Marco Zadra. The Italian drove sensibly to extend his points lead to 22 over the eventual third placed Den Bla Avis Dome.
John Nielsen had come through the first corner skirmish intact but had the shock of his life when he got to the Adelaide Hairpin to find a long brake pedal: "I thought I was off to Paris," he smiled after the race. "I just managed to get it round but by that time Jean Marc was through and unfortunately the brakes were like that throughout the race."
The Judd powered Ascari of Werner Lupberger and Ben Collins had a bad start when a fuel leak stranded the A410 out on the track during the formation laps. Luckily Werner managed to get the car back to the pits where he just made it out before the pit lane closed. After a lonely race they finished 4th ahead of the second Scuderia Italia car of Bryner/Zadra Snr and Calderari.
The Racing For Holland Dome of Jan Lammers and Val Hillebrand struggled for grip on their softer Avon tyres and finished a very disappointed 6th.
Giovanni Lavaggi had earlier driven one of his now famous 'red mist races' after qualifying problems left him starting at the back of the grid. The Italian was among the quickest drivers on the track and a repeat of his famous Monza 1000kms win looked a possibility when he rose to 2nd place after the first stops. Sadly the Italian was forced to park his unique Ferrari Judd just after the hour mark with a box full of neutrals.
The Rowan Racing Pilbeam took the honours in SR2 after a thrilling race-long battle with the Sportsracing Sweden Lola of Oberto and Bjork. Martin O'Connell completed the majority of the running in the Nissan engined Pilbeam and made a clever early 'splash and dash' fuel stop to give them an advantage right at the end of the race. Their cause was helped by the fact that Larry Oberto endured a rotation at the Lycee Chicane midway through his opening stint, leaving Thed Bjork a difficult task. But the Swede set a blistering pace and crept up to the Pilbeam, finishing just 5 seconds adrift at the end. However it was all in vain as the team were disqualified after the race for a push start in the pits.
This elevated the Lucchini Alfa of Dr Piergiuseppe Peroni and Jean Bernard Bouvet in to second place ahead of team mates Denny Zardo and Mauro Prospero in a similar machine.
However, the day belonged to Courage and the Pescarolo Sport team whose legendary boss Henri Pescarolo watched proudly underneath the podium heartily singing the Marseillaise and then commented: "This is a tremendous win for all the team and to do it here in the FIA Sportscar Championship and at Magny Cours is very satisfying indeed."
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