FIA GTs Second win for Campbell-Walter/Coronel

The Labre-run Chrysler Viper of Christophe Bouchut led away from pole, but was soon usurped by Mike Hezemans in the Carsport Holland-run Viper halfway around the opening lap. The pair of Listers followed, with Julian Bailey ahead of Campbell-Walter, while Emanuele Naspetti held fifth in his Rafanelli-run Ferrari 550 Maranello until it was passed by the Belmondo Viper of Boris Derichebourg on lap two.

Although the leading Vipers pulled out an early advantage, Bailey was on a mission to overhaul them. He passed Bouchut at the Adelaide Hairpin on lap 14, and slashed into Hezemans' 4sec lead, repeating his earlier maneouvre on the Dutchman at the Adelaide Hairpin on lap 19.

Campbell-Walter followed suit to join Bailey in a nip-and-tuck battle for the lead, and last year's joint champions looked anything but friendly as they came close to trading paint as well as places. The two Storms pitted together, with JC-W handing over to ex-Formula Nippon champ Tom Coronel and Bailey doing likewise to gentleman racer Nicolaus Springer.

As a result, Coronel extended the number one car's lead to over a minute, while Springer dropped back to fifth, behind Bouchut/Jean-Philippe Belloc, Vincent Vosse/Derichebourg and Naspetti/Mimmo Schiatterella. The leading Carsport Holland Viper of Hezemans/Jeroen Bleekemolen went out of the race with 2hr 15mins on the clock, while the Paul Belmondo Viper lost three laps when he went off into a gravel trap and the team retired the car, fearing damage to its oil coolers.

Campbell-Walter held a 1min lead over Bouchut in his final stint to win the race comfortably, which puts him back at the top of the championship standings.

"This win puts us back on track basically," said Campbell-Walter. "We went for harder tyres than the opposition and ours lasted, theirs didn't. It was quite tricky starting from fifth, but I was in the lead by the first pitstop, and Tom drove a great middle stint to get us the advantage."

The Belmondo car of Vosse/Derichebourg took third place, which was about as much as they could hope for. Despite a final stint charge, Bailey couldn't make up for the time lost when he wasn't behind the wheel and finished fifth, two laps down.

David Terrien and Christian Pescatori outpaced the Porsches for a surprise win in their JMB-run Ferrari 360 Modena, beating Luca Riccitelli/Dieter Quester and F3000 duo Tomas Enge/Justin Wilson.

"It's great to take Ferrari's first win in this class," said Terrien. "The team told me 'slow down, slow down', but I just wanted to drive fast!"


1 Campbell-Walter/Coronel (Lister Storm) 106 laps
2 Christophe Bouchut/Jean-Philippe Belloc (Chrysler Viper) +1m07s
3 Vincent Vosse/Boris Derichebourg (Chrysler Viper) +1 lap
4 Emanuele Naspetti/Mimmo Schiatarella (Ferrari 550 Maranello) +2 laps
5 Julian Bailey/Nicolaus Springer (Lister Storm) +2 laps
6 Michael Bleekemolen/ Sebastien Bleekemolen (Chrysler Viper) +2 laps


David Terrien/Christian Pescatori (Ferrari 360 Modena)