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An action-packed, high-attrition race round the redesigned Magny-Cours circuit saw Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi take their second win of the season in the BMS Scuderia Italia 550 Maranello, with their team-mates Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari coming second. A repeat of their Barcelona double looked far from certain however, with the nr 23 and 22 Ferraris only coming to the fore in the latter stages of the race, as assorted mechanical problems befell the rest of the field. Bouchut, in the Larbre Viper, took the lead at the start, and dominated the early stages of the race, building up a good lead. He was followed by the nr 2 Saleen, which was involved in a fine battle with Bobbi, in the Ferrari. The Saleen’s progress finished on lap 14, the car pulling off the track. The next car to shine briefly was the Viper of Mike Hezemans climbing up to second place, before retiring with engine problems on lap 18. The Larbre Viper continued to lead until the first pit stop, when a radiator leak was diagnosed and the car retired. This left Jamie Campbell-Walter's Lister at the front. He was soon joined by Piccini in the second Lister and the British team looked to be on course for a fine result. The nr 23 Ferrari, however, was never far behind and during the final hour, a good battle took place between Bobbi and Piccini. Piccini, suffering from a tyre problem, was not able to resist and with 21 minutes to go Bobbi moved into second place. The leading Lister still had a lead of over half a minute and appeared unassailable. But bad luck hit Campbell-Walter for the second race in a row, with a broken accelerator cable forcing him to retire with only 14 minutes to go although the car was still classified 6th. This left the two BMS Ferraris with a comfortable victory, while Piccini brought the remaining Lister into third place. The N-GT class was incredibly close, with a number of leader changes.The Freisinger Porsche with Ortelli at the wheel led at the start followed by two other Porsches, the EMKA entry and the Yukos one. Tim Sugden, with the speed he has shown all weekend, soon took the lead in the EMKA Porsche. On lap 31, the Freisinger Porsche lost a wheel and made slow progress back to the pits to replace it. Lieb therefore took the wheel earlier than had been planned, spoiling the team’s strategy. Although the Freisinger Porsche was recovering well, it looked as if the EMKA Porsche was heading for a win. However, shortly after its second pit stop, the car pulled off with a broken engine. The Yukos Porsche, of Daoudi and Lechner, then led, stopping on lap 89 for a splash and dash. This left the nr 88 Maranello Concessionaires 360GT in the lead, ahead of the Freisinger Porsche and the second TMC Ferrari, fighting for second position. A final splash and dash for the nr 88 Ferrari did not prove enough for the car, which had to slow down to avoid running out of fuel, and left the nr 89 TMC car of Burt and Turner to cross the line first just two seconds ahead, having made only one pit stop. The two Ferraris were followed by the Freisinger Porsche. However, after scrutineering, the Burt/Turner 360 was excluded from the results due to the fuel tank capacity. The team has appealed and therefore the results remain provisional.
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