FULL HOUSE FOR TEAM AKKA-ASP IN LEDENON

The FFSA French GT Championship started well for Team AKKA-ASP during the first round, taking place at the Lédenon circuit. During the weekend’s only race (due to the bad weather), the crew of the #20 car of Philippe Giauque, Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Morgan Moullin-Traffort set the pace and secured the full house of pole, win and fastest lap. The team’s remaining two Ferrari cars finished the event in the top ten. Eric Debard, Fabien Barthez and Olivier Panis finished 7th with the #16 car, while Pascal Gibon, Christophe Bourret and Jean-Philippe Belloc were tenth with the #10. The 2015 season is really starting in the best possible way, as Team AKKA-ASP has claimed three podiums from three races in three different series…

This weekend, the Lédenon meeting saw the ‘new formula’ FFFA French GT Championship get underway. The 2015 regulations stipulate three drivers behind the wheel of each entered car, with the race length extended to 90 minutes. And there is not only a new race format but a new qualifying procedure. “The driver with the best categorisation (“Gold” or “Silver”) within the crew will qualify the car for the second race, for which he will take the start. The other drivers will qualify the car for the first race.”

In this new configuration, the first qualifying session saw Philippe Giauque and Jean-Luc Beaubelique behind the wheel. The team-mates both set the second-fastest time, and their average gave them pole position for Saturday’s race. The first pole of the year!

As for the race, all went well, as explained by Jérôme Policand : “Philippe took the start and held on to his advantage. There was a rather muscular fight with David Hallyday but the Swiss driver held on and was six seconds ahead at the pit stop. Jean Luc then pulled out the lead, and had a margin of nine seconds when he handed the car over to Morgan. As usual, Morgan finished the race in fine style, even setting the fastest race lap. Pole position, victory and fastest lap… it was all just perfect! This is our third podium from three races, the season is starting well.”

Slightly on the back foot in qualifying, setting the eighth time, the trio in the #16 Ferrari was decisive in the race. Eric Debard took charge in the first stint, holding position and not giving anything away. But the driver change to Fabien Barthez did not go as planned and the car lost 12 seconds. Fabien’s radio was not plugged in, and he was waiting to leave, disturbed by the incident.

During his stint, the 2013 French GT Champion encountered more problems when his anti-skid system failed. A difficult stint, after which he handed the car over to Olivier Panis, who pushed hard to take the flag in 7th place.

Almost at the same time, the #10 had a similar problem. While Pascal Gibon took care of the first stint, running in the top ten, the driver change to Christophe Bourret saw them lose precious seconds due to a difficult seat belt Jean-Philippe Belloc, running for the final thirty minutes, put in a strong pace and crossed the line in 10th position.

Despite the problem during the driver changeover, the crew proved its worth, its consistency and the complementary nature of the drivers, showing that they have a card to play in this year’s Championship.

Jérôme Policand was pleased with the weekend, but had regrets concerning the problems during the driver changeovers.

“All the cars scored points and we have claimed our first victory of the AKKA era. This is all very positive. But we lost a lot of time on things that we have rehearsed over and over again. The refuelling and tyre changes caused no issues, but the driver change gave us problems twice on the same day. We do not usually lose time on these things, but today we have to look carefully in order not to make the same mistakes again. The level of the Championship is very high. After this weekend it is clear that no fewer than seven or eight cars have the speed to be at the front. Every point we score will be very important.”

Although this first race took place in the dry and with no weather concerns at all, Sunday’s race was quite simply cancelled. With the track unsuitable for driving, the sporting authorities decided to cancel race 2.

“At that point, the decision was fully justified. The track was flooded, and if the cars had gone out, there could have been some serious incidents or crashes.”

The next round of the FFSA French GT Championship will take place at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit on May 2nd and 3rd. For the moment, due to the circuit’s decision not to authorise refuelling, there will be three one-hour races. A new challenge for Team AKKA-ASP, one to which they are sure to respond positively!

The crews :
# 20 : Philippe GIAUQUE, Jean-Luc BEAUBELIQUE, Morgan MOULLIN-TRAFFORT
# 16 : Eric DEBARD, Fabien BARTHEZ, Olivier PANIS
# 10 : Pascal GIBON, Christophe BOURRET, Jean-Philippe BELLOC

Source. Team AKKA-ASP