FIA GTs: Prodrive reigns in Spain

The duo combined consistent speed with tyre conservation and mistake-free driving to end up beating the brace of Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper GTS-Rs by nearly a minute after three hours of racing around the gruelling Spanish track.

Tyre wear was always going to be a factor at the twisty circuit, and so it proved as this year's champion Christophe Bouchut lost his strong early lead before the first round of pitstops as the Michelin rubber on his Larbre Competition Viper deteriorated badly.

The first to benefit from Bouchut's problem was the second works Lister Storm of Julian Bailey, which had rocketed from 11th to fourth at the start, and then showed itself as the quickest car on the track as he passed first Vincent Vosse's Belmondo car and then Menu in the early laps. Bailey caught and passed the struggling Bouchut by lap 24, and nine laps later Menu followed suit.

With gentleman driver Nicolaus Springer due to take over from Bailey at the first stops, Menu had little concern about the 27s gap the Englishman had built on him. Sure enough, after the first stops Rydell soon emerged in the lead as Springer fell back, seriously hamstrung by a broken clutch which had afflicted Bailey from lap 16.

Through the middle section of the race Rydell continued Menu's good work, keeping the Dunlop tyres fresh and dealing with the heavy traffic efficiently. By lap 45 Vosse's team-mate Boris Derichebourg had passed Springer for second, but Rydell gradually extended his lead to the Frenchman from 20 to 38 seconds by the time he handed back over to Menu.

From there, the Swiss ace had a simple run to the flag to once again prove the Prodrive Ferrari's credentials as a force to be reckoned with in GT circles worldwide, despite being given a bigger engine restrictor for this race.

"If you look at the early speed of Bouchut and also of Bailey, you can see were not the fastest car today," said Menu afterwards. "But we had good stops, and everything ran like clockwork, so we deserved the result."

The Dunlop-shod Vosse/Derichebourg Viper eventually finished a clear second, ahead of the sister car of Emmanuel Clerico and Anthony Kumpen. Clerico had snatched the final podium place from Bouchut with just two laps to go as once again the Larbre car ended a stint slewing sideways with its rear tyres badly chewed up.

The heroic Bailey drove for the last hour and a half to take fifth place. Springer's stint had lasted just 12 laps until changing gear became just too difficult, leaving Bailey to soldier on through the problem to the finish.

The points provided the British team with some recompense following the early retirement of the Jamie Campbell-Walter/Bobby Verdon-Roe lead car. Campbell-Walter had accidentally hit the Carsport Holland Viper of Mike Hezemans under braking for turn 1 on lap eight, knocking the Dutchman into a spin and damaging the front left corner of the Storm enough to warrant his retirement. Hezemans got going again, but with dirt on his tyres he spun a second time and lost four laps in the gravel.

The N-GT battle went the way of the JMB Competition Ferrari 360M of David Terrien and Christian Pescatori to set up a thrilling championship finale at Estoril next month. The duo had just one pit stop as they took advantage of the Italian car's excellent fuel consumption, and this was enough to put them ahead of the pace-setting RWS Porsche 911 GT3-RS of Luca Riccitelli and Dieter Quester. Riccitelli eventually finished an exasperated second after a heroic chase, and now takes a single point lead to the Portuguese finale.


1 Alain Menu/Rickard Rydell, Prodrive Ferrari 550M 111 laps
2 Vincent Vosse/Boris Derichebourg, Belmondo Chrysler Viper, +44.3s
3 Anthony Kumpen/Emmanuel Clerico, Belmondo Chrysler Viper, + 1m13.3s
4 Christophe Bouchut/Jean-Philippe Belloc, Larbre Chrysler Viper, + 1m17.0s
5 Julian Bailey/Nicolaus Springer, Lister Storm GT, 110 laps
6 Paul Belmondo/Claude-Yves Gosselin, Belmondo Chrysler Viper, 109 laps
7 David Terrien/Christian Pescatori, JMB Ferrari 360M, 109 laps
8 Luca Riccitelli/Dieter Quester, RWS Porsche 911 GT3-RS, + 21.5s
9 Wim Daems/Eric Geboers, GLPK Chrysler Viper, 108 laps
10 Luigi Moccia/Fabio Babini, Art Porsche 911 GT3-RS, 108 laps