Race: Courage notches maiden win

The French duo overcame strong challenges from the Kremer Lola-Roush of Jean-Marc Gounon, Christian Pescatori's Ferrari and the Dome of John Nielsen to score a fine victory on home turf.

A frantic start saw pole sitter Nielsen come under attack from Pescatori and Gounon at the first turn, with the Italian being nudged on to the grass. Nielsen then ran wide at the following Adelaide hairpin, and Gounon rocketed through to take the lead.

Immediately afterwards, Nielsen had the shock of his life when he got to the Adelaide Hairpin to find a rather long brake pedal.

"I thought I was off to Paris," he quipped. "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 Courage of Boullion was stealthily making its way towards the front, and was up to second by lap three. Pescatori was forced to pit early, handing third place to Nielsen who had a charging Giovanni Lavaggi (GLV Ferrari) on his tail.

Boullion took the lead for the first time when Gounon made his first stop, but the Lola then suffered a puncture during its following stint, sending it spiraling down the escape road at the hairpin.

Gounon pitted to hand over to Sam Hancock, but the car's differential had been damaged and he was forced out soon after.

Boullion handed over a large lead to Redon, which was increased when second placed Lavaggi went out with a gearbox failure. Redon took the flag 54secs ahead of the Ferrari of Pescatori/Marco Zadra, with the Dome of Nielsen and Hiroki Katoh coming home third.

"It was a fantastic job by the team today," said Boullion, "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."

The Ascari of Ben Collins/Werner Lupberger finished a lap down in fourth, while Warren Carway and Martin O'Connell won the SR2 class in their Pilbeam.

Jean Christophe Boullion/Laurent Redon, Pescarolo Sport, Courage C60-Peugeot, 92 laps
Christian Pescatori/Marco Zadra, BMS Scuderia Italia, Ferrari 333SP, +54.6s
John Nielsen/Hiroki Katoh, Den Bla Avis, Dome S101-Judd, +1m26.0s
Werner Lupberger/Ben Collins, Team Ascari A410-Judd, +1 lap
Angelo Zadra/Lilian Bryner/Enzo Calderari, BMS Scuderia Italia, Ferrari 333SP, +2 laps
Jan Lammers/Val Hillebrand, Racing For Holland, Dome S101-Judd, +2 laps