Belloc and Donohue snatch GT win

Belloc, sharing his car with American David Donohue, had dominated the weekend, being fastest in both practice and qualifying.

But Championship leaders Beretta and Wendlinger, in the #1 Oreca Viper, moved into the lead on the second lap of the race, and looked certain to take their sixth win of the season.

However, the final pit-stops saw Belloc come out in front to take the win.

'I don't really know what happened, because I was in the car,' Belloc said afterwards.

'The last stint was very difficult because we had some gearbox problems.'

It appears these problems might have given them the victory, as his car required less fuel than the #1 Viper, giving him a vital 3s lead.

Beretta and Wendlinger came in second.

'Whether we finish first or second doesn't matter,' Beretta said. 'The main thing is that the team won the race.'

Christian Vann and Christian Gläsel took their first podium of the season, finishing third in the #19 Chamberlain Motorsport Chrysler Viper.

They managed to complete the race without making a final fuel stop.

'It was tight, but it looks like we did our sums right last night!' Vann said afterwards.

Kaufmann and Wolleck finished fourth, the only Porsche 911 GT2 in the points, having fought back up the field after an early puncture.

'Fourth was the best we could hope for,' Wolleck commented.

The second Chamberlain Viper finished in sixth place, after running out of fuel early in the race, when Pompidou had tried to keep up with the Oreca cars.

Pompidou got the car back to the pits, and Ligonnet and Vosse started to fight back, pulling the car up to fifth before a spin let the leading Belmondo Racing Viper, driven by Belmondo and Drudi, through.

The leading American entry, taking part in the invitational class, was the Schumacher Racing Porsche driven by Larry Schumacher and John O'Steen.

'I guess we're a seventh-place car,' Schumacher said after repeating their Homestead finishing position. 'We didn't have a problem all weekend.'

The Reiser-Callas Porsche 911 RSR, driven by Murry and Reiser, finished second
in the class, 10th overall.

The final round of the 1999 FIA GT Championship will take place in Zhuhai in the People's Republic of China, on November 28.