The fourth race of GPVWC’s 2017 World GT series was held in Paul Ricard on May 11th, 2017. Before the race, the team was third in the Constructors’ Championship, having the same amount of points as Epic Racing in second and Cosmo Autosport in third position. Therefor both STAX Racing drivers were motivated to end the first half of the season on a high note.
Nico Barclay qualified in third position behind Risto Kappet and Chris Shepherd. Uncharacteristically, he lost two spots at the start to Philip Morby and Lance Garassino. On the third lap, Nico managed to overtake Garassino and, three laps later, he also passed Morby. On Lap 13, Chris Shepherd, who attempted to do the full race without a pitstop, made a driving error which enabled Nico to get close to the Englishman and pass him on the long Mistral Straight. When Nico pitted on lap 17, Risto Kappet was already leading by 13 seconds. After his pitstop, Nico rejoined the race in sixth position. After Thomas Hinss pitted, Nico was able to pass Mark Fuller and Rauno Muru into third place on lap 20. At that moment, race leader Chris Shepherd had a gap of 25 seconds to Nico. However, Barclay was lapping much quicker than the Epic Racing driver, thanks to new tyres. Kappet was able to regain the race lead when he passed Shepherd, who struggled with worn tyres, in the second to last lap. The last lap provided even more drama: Shepherd spun in Turn 1 and rejoined the track right infront of Nico. The two battled nose to tail on the Mistral Straight, and in the end Chris was able to finish the race 0.391 seconds infront of the STAX Racing driver.
Chris beating Nico to the line after doing the full race on the same set of tyres.
Thomas Hinss qualified in seventh position and stayed there for the opening laps. He gained two places when Morby spun on the tenth lap and Garassino retired the following lap. After Argo Teder pitted on Lap 15, the Aussie was in P4. He gained another spot when his teammate Nico entered the pits on Lap 17. The next lap, he came into the pits for fresh tyres himself and rejoined the race in seventh position behind Teder. On Lap 25, he passed TTF’s Rauno Muru and gained another spot when Teder blew up his engine while downshifting. He then chased down and overtook Mark Fuller to finish in P4.
After the first half of the season, STAX Racing are second in the Constructors’ Championship table behind EVAL Simracing and infront of Epic Racing. Nico Barclay is third in the Driver’s Championship, having finished every race in the points so far, twice in P3. Thomas Hinss bounced back from his DNF in the first race and scored valuable points in the last three races. He now is seventh in the championship. The next World GT race will be held on the Nürburgring on May 25th, 2017.
Below, you can find the results of both the qualifying and the race of the French GT Cup race.
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