C.E.R. 1 - Paul Ricard

Even if the P1 title had already been at Silverstone mathematically given to a very clever Ferrer, the author of a very impeccable season having three good wins to his credit, since free tests it has been easy to understand as an outgoing champion Sheldon was very decided to have this year the success he was still missing, and this even though he had always been among the leaders. The fight which had opposed each other was on the hundredths and had also lasted till the two qualifying sessions in which also Hevia turned out an insidious rival at the wheel of his fine McLaren M1B, third at only 8 tenths of seconds down from Pole position.

Among GT1s the fight for the title was still partly opened, with Denaf the only one in a position to still threaten Moreau’s record, but the difficulties met since Friday minimized the hopes on an overtaking were nearly at the end; for once it were not the Porsches 911 to dominate with Erlich first on the very fast Pantera De Tomaso in front of Sirgue second in a Corvette, while it was only third the first car of Stuttgart factory, the car driven by Tuma-Pace left behind 2 seconds down.

At start Sheldon hesitated and Ferrer took advantage of it taking the first position and immediately attempting to escape with fast laps, while behind him the English driver had so much to do to hold Hevia at bay. The other pursuers soon suffered heavy gaps in running 3-4 seconds down from the first three drivers, but the fight among Guikas (then excluded by the race direction), Quiniou, Primrose, with the addition of Watson/O’Connell that, after few rounds, greatly amused the present public. Even among GT1s the grid-start was rather interesting, with Erlich who, fallen back to thirtieth position after a very bad start, began a furious recovery which in nine rounds would have taken him before all, taking advantage of Sirgue’s retirement, in first position up to that moment.

While Ferrer was passing lap after lap, Sheldon had more and more problems to hold back Hevia’s attacks, clearly at the most by taking the fast big corners hanging out the rear: the Mc Laren’s driver managed to pass him by releasing the pedal and braking on Verriere at the beginning of lap nine but, some double passages made him to slow down coming out of the “s” allowing the English driver to regain the second position. Two laps again and Hevia was forced to go to pits sadly saying goodbye to the 2010 championship.

On lap 12 Ferrer was the first at pits for the obligatory stop, followed by Sheldon on the next lap, but the English driver began by having brake problems and going back on the track he had by then 28 seconds’ delay: for Ferrer was only a question of driving the car to the finishing line and gaining the title as well as the fourth win of the season, while the last few laps were a real ordeal to the English driver, forced to a sort of mild rate and even to a further pit-stop which relegated him to the fifth position. On the finish the second placed car was driven by Quiniou, who was back after two years in P1 with a Lola T210, while the third position was gained by Watson-O’Connell with Chevron B8.

In GT1 the ride of Pantera De Tomaso stopped at eight rounds down from the end, leaving the lead of the race first to de Lesseps in Porsche 911 2.8, later, after his exclusion for a non pit-stop, to Tuma/Pace, always at the wheel of a 911 but in the 3.01 version, behind them Kriknoff and Orjuela/Orjuela all in different 911 variants. The result was very good for Moreau who, in spite of having raced in a zone behind the front, justly won the GT1 title.

Marco Zanello
Photos taken by Giacomo & Marco Zanello

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