Three hours of close and exciting racing in unseasonably hot temperatures saw the Maserati MC 12 claim a fine one-two-three. JMB Racing's duo of Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Bertolini took their first win of the season, while the two green and black Vitaphone Racing Team cars finished in second and third places, after a hard-fought battle around the technical Magny-Cours circuit.

The GT2 fight was equally close, with Emmanuel Collard taking a well-deserved home win, after he and his team-mate Tim Sugden overcame their Gruppe M team-mates to come home in first position, ahead of Monza winners Lieb and Rockenfeller. The Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 360 Modena of Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy was third, winning the British GT Championship race-within-a-race.

BERTOLINI AND WENDLINGER WIN FOR JMB RACING

Having taken the lead at the start, ahead of the Russian Age Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello, the nr 15 JMB car regained the lead during the final round of pit-stops, and Andrea Bertolini proceeded to give the Magny-Cours spectators a nail-biting finish. The Italian, who had a comfortable lead in his nr 15 Maserati MC 12, went off into the gravel at the Château d'Eau corner, just seven laps before the end of the race. He recovered well and kept the lead, but from this point, the chasing Timo Scheider was less than six seconds behind. The German began to chase, but Andrea managed to hold on, crossing the finish line 4.7 seconds ahead of the nr 9 Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC 12, having completed 104 laps of the 4.411 km circuit.

"It was a good race today !" Bertolini said afterwards. "It was so close! I am happy with my start as I took the lead from the start. But then after 10 laps, I lost it. The last stint of the race was unbelievable. Every lap, I was speaking with my engineer to find out where Timo [Scheider] was. Then, I lost grip on the front and it was impossible to brake. I went into the gravel. This is not good for my heart !"

This was JMB Racing\'s first win in the FIA GT since Donington 2004, when Wendlinger and Melo were victorious in the Ferrari 575 GTC. Bertolini gave the Maserati its first FIA GT win at Zhuhai last year. Once again, the Monaco-based team managed to bring both cars home in the points, placing them second in the GT1 Teams classification, behind the Vitaphone Racing Team. 

VITAPHONE TAKES COMMANDING GT1 TEAMS LEAD

The German team once again managed to place both cars on the podium, with Bartels and Scheider finishing ahead of Biagi and Babini. Both Maserati cars led during the race, the nr 10 car taking the lead on lap 18, when the Russian Age Ferrari, which had overtaken the nr 15 Maserati, was involved in a collision with the nr 75 Porsche. Retaining the lead through a later safety car period, the car lost the lead when pitting after the race went green. The nr 9 car inherited the front position, and a fine battle ensued between long-time adversaries Michael Bartels and Karl Wendlinger. Both pitting together, the JMB car came out first, and despite a final push from Scheider, the German team had to settle for second and third.

This second successive podium has placed Bartels and Scheider in the lead of the GT1 Drivers Classification, ahead of Lamy, Gardel, Wendlinger and Bertolini.  They also lead the Teams classification, where Vitaphone has a seven-points lead ahead of JMB Racing, with Larbre Competition a further point behind.
 

"It is a great day for Maserati and Pirelli to finish here in the top three positions," Michael Bartels said. "Like in Monza, we missed out on victory. For the team, I am very happy to be second and third and also to be leading the Drivers classification with Timo now! I had a fantastic fight with Karl, which started back in the early Formula 3 days when I helped him winning the Championship!

FIRST POINTS FOR THE CORVETTE  AND RUSSIAN AGE RACING; LARBRE THIRD IN GT1 TEAMS

The GLPK-Carsport Corvette C5R finished just off the podium today, claiming the first-ever points for the Corvette in the FIA GT Championship. The car ran strongly, and was lying in the top three mid-race. However, a racing incident and spin when Longin was at the wheel saw the car drop back to fourth, but managing to remain on the same lap as the leading Maserati cars, the last car to do so.

Russian Age Racing also claimed its first-ever FIA GT point today. Christophe Bouchut lost the lead to Bertolini at the start, but stayed within contact, and took the lead on lap 16. However, less than two laps later, contact with a Porsche gave the Ferrari 550 Maranello a puncture, and forced it back to the pits. Rejoining well down the field, the car made a fine recovery, Christophe handing it back to his Russian team-mates in fourth position. The car eventually finished 8th for its first point.

The two Larbre Competition Ferrari 550 Maranellos finished in fifth and sixth positions, to give the French team some extra points. The nr 11, which had been struggling with its set-up throughout the weekend, continued to have handling problems. The Reiter Engineering Lamborghini ran strongly early on, but gearbox problems dropped it back and then took it out of the race. The Lister Storm went out early in the race due to a slipping clutch,  while the leading Konrad Saleen had engine problems. The leading Saleen was the Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R of Almeras, Bervillé and Casoni, finishing 10th overall.

SCUDERIA ECOSSE WIN BRITISH GT ROUND

Scuderia Ecosse's Ferrari 360 Modena, driven by Nathan Kinch and Andrew Kirkaldy, finished third in GT2 and won the second round of the British GT Championship, three weeks after emerging victorious in Donington two weeks ago.

"We had to concentrate on the British race today," Kirkaldy said. "We hoped we could keep up with the GruppeM Porsches but it was not the case after the first couple of laps. We just had to drive our own race. We finished third in the FIA GT race and we won the British GT round. We had big problems with the car all weekend but we managed to cure them during the warm-up. The mechanics worked until 2 o'clock last night. At the end of the race, the other cars were coming back on us and it was very nerve-wracking! We are pretty happy with the result". They were followed by team's second car, driven by Tim Mullen and Chris Niarcos, with the Team Eurotech Porsche 996 GT3 RS of Mike Jordan and Michael Caine in third position, and the two LNT TVR T400R cars fourth and fifth.