GT Tour - Le Mans 2015 Bugatti Circuit

The Ferrari 458 Italia driven by T.Soave/T.Samon/E.Guibbert and entered by Sport Garage at Le Musée corner.

I don’t very often go to circuit races for modern cars, so it was a bit of a change to go down to Le Mans on Sunday May 3^rd to see the GT Tour Championship of France series.  It was my first time to see this series and also my first time seeing a race on the Bugatti circuit.  For the third time in succession it was great to be accompanied by Gareth who kept me entertained with stories of the Jousse racing family and Connew F1 cars!

Je ne vais pas très souvent à des courses de circuit pour voitures modernes, de sorte qu'il était un peu un changement de descendre au Mans le dimanche 3 mai pour voir le GT Tour Championnat de France des Circuits FFSA. Il était ma première fois de voir cette série et aussi ma première fois de voir une course sur le circuit Bugatti.

Conditions were difficult with cloudy skies and intermittent rain and being a modern circuit it is difficult to get very close to the cars. Thus my Panasonic compact camera was tested to its limits.  I was quite pleased with the results but judge for yourself.

Les conditions étaient difficiles avec un ciel nuageux et la pluie intermittente et étant un circuit moderne, il est difficile de voir de très près les voitures. Ainsi mon appareil photo compact Panasonic a été testé à ses limites. Je suis très heureux avec les résultats, mais juge pour vous-même.

We were lucky enough to be invited into the pits by one of Gareth's friends, Max Jousse, which helped make the day a bit special.  It was also good to see some other famous drivers such as Olivier Panis racing and Jean Alesi in the paddock because his son is competing in the French F4 championship.

Nous avons eu la chance d'être invité dans les stands par un des amis de Gareth, Max Jousse, qui a contribué à faire de la journée un peu spéciale. Il était également bon de voir quelques autres pilotes de renom tels que les courses Olivier Panis et Jean Alesi dans le paddock parce que son fils est en compétition dans le championnat F4 français.

There were races for GT, F4, Peugeot RCZ, Porsche Carrera GT3 plus Super Touring Cars and Mitjets.  All in all a nice day out that helped me get over some jet lag.  Full story of the day and pictures of each race below.

Il y avait des courses pour GT, F4, Peugeot RCZ, Porsche Carrera GT3, plus Voitures de Super Touring et Mitjets. Dans l'ensemble une belle hors de jour qui m'a aidé sur certain décalage horaire. Histoire complète de la journée et des photos de chaque course ci-dessous.

FFSA French GT Championship - Race 2 

Championnat de France FFSA GT - Course 2

Two Ferrari 458 Italias, the Sport Garage car of S.Lemmeret/E.Cayrolle/A.Santamato leading the Team Duqueine car of R.Berville/G.Duqueine/A.Beltoise.  Both cars are heading into La Musée corner.  They finished in this order in 3rd and 4th positions.

The FFSA French GT Championship runs to FIA GT3 rules and is the most important circuit championship in France attracting drivers such as Olivier Pans and Anthony Beltoise.  It also has participation from well known personalities such as ex-Manchester United and French National team goalkeeper Fabien Barthez who has been racing since 2008.  Le Mans was round 2 of this year’s championship.  We arrived in the middle of race 2 so relatively few photos.  The race was won by the Ferrari of B.Strazzer/R.Brandela/N.Panciatici from the similar car of Olivier Panis and Fabien Barthez and Eric Debard.

Le Championnat FFSA GT français fonctionne à des règles de FIA GT3 et championnat du circuit le plus important en France à attirer des pilotes comme Olivier casseroles et Anthony Beltoise. Il a également la participation des personnes bien connus tels que l'ex-Manchester United et le français gardien de l'équipe nationale de Fabien Barthez qui a été en course depuis 2008. Le Mans était ronde 2 du championnat de cette année. Nous sommes arrivés au milieu de la course 2 de manière relativement peu des photos.

The Sebastien Loeb Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra of D.Hallyday/P.Gaillard/M.Parisy battling it out in La Musée corner with a Ferrari 458 Italia

MitJet 2L - Race 3

MitJet 2L - Course 3

This relatively low cost "Race For All" one make series features nearly identical cars with slightly different bodywork made to resemble famous marques but powered by 230bhp two litre Renault engines.

Cette serie est "La Course pour tous" par ses coûts réduits. Il est un catégorie monotype mais avec carrosserie légèrement différente faite pour ressembler marques célèbres, et propulsé par des moteurs Renault 230 ch deux litres.

The Team BM2 MitJet 2L of Julien Lambert gathers in the paddock with the rest of the grid

Some of the MitJet cars are made to look like Bugattis!  This is the Arctic Energy car of Mickail Makaroovskiy.

French Championship Formula 4 - Race 3

Championnat de France F4 - Course 3

Formula 4 uses 140bhp 1.6L Renault Engines in France and is a single make series aimed at very

Jean Alesi was at the race supporting his 15 year old son Giuliano

young drivers (no older than 21).  It is meant as a step up from karting and is less expensive than F3.  In France it replaces Formula Campus.  For the drivers racing today it might be a step up towards F1 as it was for Jean-Eric Vergne in the past.

Formule 4 utilise 140bhp 1.6L moteurs Renault en France et est une série de marque unique visant à de très jeunes conducteurs (pas plus de 21). Il est conçu comme un cran au dessus de karting et est moins cher que F3. En France, il remplace Formule Campus. Pour les pilotes de course aujourd'hui, il pourrait être une étape vers la F1 jusqu'à comme pour Jean-Eric Vergne dans les années passé.

Giuliano Alesi driving hard in the F4 race in the Garage Bleu Esses ahead of Hugo Sugnot-Darniche.

Giulano Alesi has to apply some opposite lock in his attempt to keep ahead of the other cars seen here.  Alesi eventually finished in a good fourth place.

One of the F4 cars spins off into the gravel at the Garage Bleu whilst the rest take very wide lines in the wet conditions

The wet conditions can be seen clearly here as the leading group of cars head into the first corner.

These are proper modern single seater racing cars.  This is that of Mexican Jose Sierra.

The leading five cars take the chequered flag at the end of the race with Valentin Moineault taking the victory.

French Championship Super Touring Cars - Race 2
Championnat de France Supertourisme - Course 2

Super Touring Cars are Mitjets with different motors (330 bhp 3.5L Nissan engine), tyres and aerodynamics for a higher level of performance.

Supertourisme est un MitJet avec un différent moteur (330cv 3.5L Nissan), pneus et aérodnamiques pour un haut niveau de performance. 

The start of Race 2 for the Super Touring Cars with the conditions still rather damp.

First lap at the Garage Bleu Esses with Antonin Borga leading in the Yvan Muller Racing car.

Close battle in the middle group on the start/finish straight.  Here Julien Piguet is leading Ronald Basso and Laurent Richard.

An outbreaking manouevre in the wet into the first corner with Fabien Francisco leading at this point from Philippe Marie.

The VIP Challenge Supertourisme car of Philippe Marie who finished 13th.

The pit crews signalling to the cars of Anthonin Borgia who finished 19th and Antoine Jung who finished second.

The rather mean looking supertourisme cars go through the corner side by side.  On the inside is Ronald Basso and on the outside is Didier Lescos.

French Porsche Carrera Cup Race 2
Porsche Carrera Cup France - Course 2

The well known Porsche Carrera Cup series race was one of Gareth's main reasons for attending as his family friend Maxime Jousse was racing. Max had won the day before and was on the front row so we were hopeful to see another success.   Both young talents and gentlemen drivers take part in this class of racing but it can be a step up to greater things.

Le Porsche Carrera Cup est bien connu et c'était la raison principal pour le présence de Gareth parce qu'il avait un amis, Maxime Jousse qui était en compétition. Après une victoire la veille nous étions plein d'espoir pour son succès .

Gareth chatting to Max Jousse before the race and wishing him good luck. It was a shame we didn't give him our view on tyre choice!

The Sebastien Loeb Porsche Carrera Cup Team

Max Jousse in the Sebastien Loeb Porsche Carrera GT3 leaving the pits garage to go on the warm up lap.  His team thought the conditions suited wet tyres so out he went on them.

The start and Max Jousse makes a great get away in the damp conditions....

...and just pulls into the lead before the first corner ahead of Mathieu Jaminet.

However, later in the lap the positions are reversed

Later in the race, Max has fallen back with his wrong choice of tyres and is here seen chasing Steven Palette.  Max eventually finished 5th on his wet tyres.

Tyre choice was key in this race and the winner chose slicks in the rapidly drying conditions.

Le Choix des pneu était la clé dans cette course et que le gagnant choisi slicks dans les conditions de séchage rapide.

The winner Oleksander Gaidai in his slick shod Porsche on the rapidly drying track

The Porsche Carrera GT3 of Jim Pla.

The Porsche Carrera GT3 of Christphe Lapierre.

Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup - Race 2
Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup - Course 2

This is a nice one make series for these Peugeot GT cars with 1.6L turbo 260bhp engines.

Cela est une bonne série d'une marque pour ces voitures Peugeot GT avec des moteurs 1.6L turbo de 260cv.

The race was won by Nicolas Milan seen here ahead of second place man and championship leader Aurélien Comte.

The Peugeot RCZ of Pierre-Etienne Chaumat leaving the paddock for the warm up lap

Thibault Bossy leads on the first lap into the Esses du Chemin aux Bouefs

A battle between Stéphane Ventaja and Antoine Ferret.

Jimmy Antunes leads a tight bunch of cars in the early stages of the race

... and then is seen here exiting the same corner.  He eventually finished in third place.

The Peugeot RCZ of Gilles Lallement.

Denis Gibaud at speed in his Peugeot RCZ at the Bugatti Circuit.  He finished in the points.

The battle between  Jacques Fabregat and Pierre-Etienne Chaumat.

The Peugeot of Thibault Bossy who finished fifth.

FFSA French GT Championship - Race 3 

Championnat de France FFSA GT - Course 3

The French Championship GT cars got another chance to race later in the day.

Les voitures Championnat de France FFSA GT obtenu une autre chance de courir plus tard dans la journée.

The tyres are changed on this Audi R8 before the race

Lap one and the Ferrari of 458 Italia of Beaubelique/Giauque/Moulin-Traffort leads the pack into the Esses du Chemin des Bouefs.  The car of Olivier Panis and Fabien Barthez is in second place.

A couple of laps later and positions were largely unchanged

The Porsche of N.Misslin/S.Bottemanne/B.Lariche which finished fifth.

Two cars side by side exiting La Chapelle with the main Le Mans circuit in the background

The beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia of T.Soave/T.Samon/E.Guibbert.

The Ferrari 458 Italia of C.Bourret/P.Gibbon/J-P.Belloc.

The Ferrari 458 Italia of R.Berville/G.Duqueine/A.Beltoise.  They finished sixth.

The Audi R8 LMS ultra of J.Goujat and F.Petit.

The Audi R8 LMS ultra of J-P.Buffin/M.Sourd/E.Sandström.

The Porsche of  911GT3R of Mislin/Bottemanne/Lariche running a little wide on the exit of La Chapelle.

The Ferrari of M.Pialat/N.Tardif/S.Ayari exiting La Chapelle on its way to a win in this race.

Porsche 911GT3R leads the Ferrari of S.Lemmeret/E.Cayrolle and the Porsche 911 GT3R of O.Pernaut/S.Dumez/R.Narac.

The Ferrari 458 Italia of B.Strazzer/R.Brandela/N.Panciatici.

Unlike the previous races this one was definitely run in dry conditions.

At times the Bugatti circuit can look quite nice as here with the winning Ferrari of Pialat/Tradif/Ayari.

The Porsche 911 GT3R of E.Mouez/D.Loger/G.Biasco.

The Ferrari of Gibon/Bourret/Belloc

The winning Ferrari of Maxime Pialat, Nicolas Tardif and Soheil Ayari.

The Porsche battle between Team Stregic and Team Porsche L'Orient continues.  Eventually car number 1 finished in third position whilst car number 17 finished fifth.

The Ferrari of S.Lemmeret/E.Cayrolle/A.Santamato that finished second in this race.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.