It wasn’t whether it would be wet when the teams arrived in France, but whether it would be rain or snow.  It turned out to be the non white stuff, but the circuit was very wet and cold as a capacity entry arrived.  It was more than capacity though, as 25 cars entered for the 24 spots on the gird.  Sadly RGreenwood, who was returning as he does fortnightly, was the unlucky reserve, and most wished the grid could be 25 cars so as not to leave the BMW stuck in the paddock.  The support race was for the Formula Mazda cars and Bradderstig took the victory, knowing it was his day when he overtook Basslinejunkieo, by driving under the AM Champion whilst he was busy crashing and being launched in to the air!

The entry list as said earlier, saw a number of returning cars.  Again we only had one SWR Subaru, as Scarlet had vacated after her promising showing at Mugello, to be replaced by ex series leader Posh Rob.  J47TEE was back in the second Evo, as was AM Championship leader Badbeat.  These three were all at the back of the grid, but the front row was where the action was expected to be.  Bradderstig on pole and he was ready for a hard race, the Camaro now down on power, even though the rain would be useful, whilst Major Raver alongside was feeling confident after some strong testing pace in the first of the DART Alfa’s.  The stewards had been keen to warn all of sensible behaviour, especially on the run up to the Dunlop Chicane and as the cars launched off the grid, the front row were a bit too occupied with each other allowing Empire from row 2 and Devil lord from row 3 to have us briefly at 4 abreast on the run down to the Dunlop Chicane.  Empire looked at first to have the drop but Devil Lord managed to beat all into the chicane, whilst Raver importantly got the exit right and beat the Subaru out of the corner to take second, important for him as he was worried about being stuck before the blue Impreza early on.  For Bradders it was the start he didn’t want as both of the Acura Integra’s were all over him.  Most had made it through the chicane unharmed, but J47TEE starting at the back hadn’t and skittled rather embarrassingly, his Hoppers Sport team boss off the track in to a spin, he also then overtook off the circuit which had caught the eye of those in race control.  Raver was worried about the opening lap with the Alfa not working its tyres, but he needn’t as in fact he seemed to be in the best shape and dived inside the Escort to take the lead through the double right hander on to the back straight.  Devil Lord thought about having a go back under baking for the chicane, but backed out and this allowed Raver to lead the cars across the line for the first lap, just over a second ahead of Devil Lord in second, third Mike after a great opening lap, 4th was Maj2012, who had displaced his teammate who had been having a few wide moments on cold tyres.  The two GRT Acura’s were having a decent opening lap and were both in the top 10, as were the RML Honda’s and KRR Nissan’s.  Up to 11th was J47TEE, who had been rather robust, where as other quick drivers who started at the back were making slower progress, Kinky in 15th, Posh Rob in 19th.

Raver was away out front and extended his lead on lap 2 and 3, and it looked like the little Alfa was on for the win, but lap 4 saw a change as Devil Lord  started to close back in.  The Escort driver was now happy of where he could brake and those confidence levels had him closing back in, and not far behind him was Mike and Maj.  By lap 3 J47TEE was up to 5th, and a lap later that was third, but it was not a rapid progress that had pleased rivals, due to the contact being made.  He divided in very late to take second on the following lap, and quickly homed in on the leader.  There was no doubt that J47TEE was the quickest runner here, his brilliant fight back on his debut last season at Le Mans, proves he is a star around the French track, so it was perhaps a surprise the emergency in which he was determined to get to the front.  On the 6th lap he was just under a second behind Raver as they crossed the line, the Evo didn’t have any advantage on straight line speed, so the Alfa looked safe from any dive into the Dunlop Chicane.  In fact the Escort was faster on the straight stuff and Devil was tucking in nicely behind.  As the Alfa braked though for the corner, it received a hefty thump from the Hoppers R&D car, spinning it around and off the track.  Raver was far from impressed and rejoined back in 5th, with slight damage.  J47TEE slowed on the exit of the chicane and let the Alfa though, but the accident had left him now behind Devil Lord, Mike and Maj.  Raver was passed by J47TEE half a lap later, and a few corners on they had both snuck through past Maj as he went wide through the final sequence of corners.  Devil was now out front but Mike sensed a win and a chance to get in the title battle, and took the lead, only for the Escort to retake it.  This had allowed J47TEE back on the scene, the EVO trying to go around the outside on the run down to the final two right handers.  He run out of room and was heading for the pit exit, but instead of backing out he tried to come back on track, hitting the RML Mazda and pushing it off track.  Mike managed to stay ahead of Raver, who had now latched back on, and had Maj in very close attention.