Terrien wins at Magny-Cours

The final European round of the Cup, held at the French track of Magny Cours, also proved decisive in the Sports Racing Lights class, with the titles going to Peter Owen and Mark Smithson for the Redman Bright team.

For the first time since the first round in Barcelona, the weather stayed dry throughout the race. Terrien started from pole, but Mauro Baldi, in the R&M Riley and Scott got the better of the young Frenchman in the first corners, relegating Terrien's Ferrari to second place.

"I realised in the warm-up that we had a lot a lot wing and downforce, but not as much speed as him on the straights," Terrien explained. "He overtook me on the straight. I could have passed under braking into Adelaide, but he pushed me onto the grass. So I stayed second, and tried to push him as hard as possible so he would make some mistakes."

As it turned out, Baldi's domination ended after 21 laps, when an electrical problem with the fuel pump lost R&M a lot of time in the pits. Terrien moved into the lead, handing over to Pescatori with a comfortable margin. The Italian proceeded to take the chequered flag after 95 laps, 40 seconds ahead of the opposition.

Second place went to the GLV Brums Ferrari 333SP, after a thrilling final stint, when Phillipp Peter, in the #23 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari, was chasing down Gianni Lavaggi.

After the team worked all night to change the gearbox and clutch, Nicolas Filiberti drove a steady, fast first stint, keeping out of the early-race tangles and handing the car over to his team-mate in second place. "It was not easy - there was so much traffic and everyone was so close - it was very difficult to overtake," Argentina's Filiberti said, extremely happy with his performance.

After the final stop, Lavaggi was 10 seconds ahead of Peter, and the gap was gradually worn away through the remaining time. "We only changed the front tyres, so the rear tyres were not so good," Lavaggi said. "And then Pescatori crossed the line two seconds before the end of the race, so we had another lap to do - so I'm very happy with my place." Peter and Zadra finished third, two seconds behind, with Nielsen fourth in the Den Bla Avis Panoz LMP.

It had looked as if Jason Watt would be unable to take part in the race, as there was a problem with the gear-shift on his special hand controls for the #9 Den Bla Avis Panoz. After missing qualifying he had to start from the back of the SR1 grid. "Then I had a harmless spin at the first corner. The cars were going slower than I expected, and when I lifted off, the rear came round and I spun."

Watt sat there, with the engine running, waiting to rejoin, when the pole-sitting SR2 Lucchini of Salvatore Ronca hit him. "He came right through and took the nose off," Watt said. Making his way back to the pits for repairs, the Panoz rejoined having lost around 10 laps. "I then drove at my own pace, and ended up lapping around half a second slower than John Nielsen. I am so happy that I was able to show that I can be competitive in dry conditions as well as in the wet, and to prove that the Nürburgring was no fluke."

Watt has a final round of the Danish touring car championship next weekend. "After two wins and a second, I hope to finish the season on a high!" he said. "And I'm quite sure I'll be racing next season."

With the Spa winner and pole-setting Lucchini out in that clash, the Sports Racing Lights class was dominated by the #59 BM Autosport Tampolli, driven by Renato Nobili and Massimo Monti, taking their first win of a season dominated by bad luck. "We haven't had a podium since Kyalami last year, we've had so many unlucky races," Nobili said. "We didn't expect victory today," Monti added. "We had a problem with the balance of the car, and lost the second free practice altogether. But we hope this is a good way to go for next season."

Peter Owen and Mark Smithson finished second in their class, to secure both the Team and Drivers titles for the Redman Bright Nissan-engined Pilbeam. "We had a difficult race - Peter did a fantastic job in the first stint, and I was very confident when I took over that I could win," Smithson explained. "But then on the first lap out I lost fourth gear, and had to adjust, and be very careful, as the box was very stiff and sticking. So, nursing the car, we didn't have the race we could have done. But we got the result we needed for the points - we just kept finishing." For next season, the team is building a Judd-engined Reynard and plan to compete in the SR1 class.

SR1
Pos .No. Driver Car Lap
1 1 Pescatori/Terrien JB Giesse Ferrari 333SP 95
2 3 Lavaggi/Filliberti GLV Brums Ferrari 333SP 95
3 23 Zadra/Peter BMS Ferrari 333SP 95
4 8 Nielsen/Elgard DenBlaAvis Panoz Spyder LMP 93
5 22 Calderari/Bryner/Zadra BMS Ferrari 333SP 91
6 21 de Lorenzi/Ayari Durango GMS LMP1 Mader 90
7 5 Baldi/Chiesa R&M R&S Judd 83
8 9 Ree/Carlsen/Watt DenBlaAvis Panoz Spyder LMP 81


SR2 1 59 Nobili/Monti BM Tampolli RS2 89
2 63 Owen/Smithson Redman Br. Pilbeam MP84 89
3 66 Saccomanno/Corradi Audisio Luchini 99 88
4 72 Randaccio/Perazza SCI Lucchini AF 87
5 57 Giudici/Raimondi Giudici Picchio BMW 86
6 99 Bruneau/Rostan Bruneau Debora BMW 85
7 58 Henderson/Mildenhall EBRT Pilbeam MP84 84
8 67 Langermann/Lyons/Grant Schroder Pilbeam MP84 84