Marseillaise rings out for Narac and Pilet at Magny-Cours

Marseillaise rings out for Narac and Pilet at Magny-CoursIMSA Performance Matmut’s string of disappointing results came to a spectacular endat Magny-Cours last weekend thanks to victory in round five of the International GTOpen.It had been the Normandy-based team’s objective to do just that on home turf in France, which markedthe half-way stage of this year’s campaign. Following the previous meeting at Spa where tyre problemshad badly affected their performance, Raymond Narac and Patrick Pilet were forced to use worn rubberduring Friday’s free practice sessions. Although far from ideal, the pair was at least able to completesome limited set-up work before attacking qualifying with fresh tyres. Their extensive knowledge of theNevers-Magny-Cours layout would also help claw back some lap time and by the end of the two sessions,Patrick and Raymond had clinched 2nd and 4th positions for the two races. It was a promising result andone which rewarded the team with all important confidence after their troubles in Belgium a few weeksback. “Our stints in free practice showed that the car was behaving well and that the tyre was not wearingout,” confirmed Pilet. “It was certainly difficult to forecast what could happen during the race, especiallywith the heat wave expected for the whole weekend, but at least we were able to reassure ourselves,which was very important even though I knew it could not be any worse than in Belgium.” While 4th forthe start of race one ...