FIA GT race: Lister wins at final corner!

Just seven days after losing victory to the Labre car in the dying minutes of the Silverstone round, lightning appeared to have struck the Lister Storm team again. Campbell-Walter held over a minute's advantage over Bouchut with 20 minutes to go, but a worsening engine problem meant he was forced to pit to replenish the Storm's oil tank.

Moments after taking the lead, Bouchut only narrowly avoided the spinning Porsche of Gianni Collini at the chicane, which allowed the Lister to gain back some of its 6sec disadvantage.

Campbell-Walter put in an amazing charge to claw back the rest of the time, despite the fact the car was sounding worse and worse. He began the final lap 0.6secs behind Bouchut, but got held up by an N-GT Porsche around the back of the circuit and all seemed lost. Nevertheless, JC-W was still close enough for a last corner lunge.

The Lister's proximity seemed to spook Bouchut, who ran wide on the exit of the final chicane, allowing Campbell-Walter to get a better exit and grab the victory in the final few hundred yards - the winning margin just 0.119secs.

"We found ourselves with a big lead," said Campbell-Walter. "Then the oil pressure light came on with 30 minutes to go, but the car was handling fine. We filled it up with oil, but it used it up straight away and had to stop again.

"There was 10 laps to go and Laurence said 'Right, you're qualifying for 10 laps' so I did. But I have to admit, I was settling for second place into the final corner, then Christophe got sideways, I got sideways, but I wasn't going to sit behind him."

Bouchut said: "I'm disappointed, the victory was possible. We weren't really competitive all through the weekend but, at the end, we were quick. I know it's not easy to pass here, but I was unhappy people didn't get out of my way on the last lap. And a car seemed to have done quite a few laps with oil coming out, so it was very slippery out there."

Emanuele Naspetti led the race from the start in his pole sitting Ferrari 550 Maranello, but soon fell back through the pack. He made an early exit when contact with another car wrecked the front end of the car. Adding to Ferrari's gloom, its pole-winning N-GT 360 Modena of Christian Pescatori was also an early retirement when the Italian lost control and crashed into the tyre wall at the chicane.

Mike Hezemans took the lead in the early stages in the Carsport Holland Viper, which fought a cat-and-mouse battle with the Lister of Campbell-Walter and Tom Coronel in the first half of the race. But a fuel pressure problem meant they had to pit early and they were then delayed by a 10sec stop/go penalty when his co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen illegally re-started the car while it was still up on its jacks during its final scheduled stop.

A late race charge from Bleekemolen, despite a broken clutch, netted him third when Marc Duez got into a big slide at the first corner in the remaining Ferrari but, with the Lister's problems, the time he lost serving the penalty had cost them the victory.

In an attrition-packed race, the victorious N-GT Porsche of Luca Riccitelli and Andrea Boldrini finished fifth overall, ahead of the only Belmondo Racing Viper to last the course, that of Paul Belmondo/Claude Yves Gosselin.


1 Campbell-Walter/Coronel (Lister Storm) 111 laps
2 Bouchut/Belloc (Chrysler Viper) +0.119s
3 Hezemans/Bleekemolen (Chrysler Viper) +17.389s
4 Duez/Blieninger (Ferrari 550 Maranello) +19.983s
5 Riccitelli/Boldrini (Porsche 993 GT3) +2 laps
6 Belmondo/Gosselin (Chrysler Viper) +2 laps

N-GT winner: Riccitelli/Boldrini (Porsche 993 GT3) +2 laps