Paul Ricart 7-8 march 2006

A well-attended and successful two-day test took place at the Paul Ricard High-Tech Test Track on March 7th and 8th. Although the main objective for the two days was to continue the procedure of balancing the performance of the cars which will take place in this year's all-new FIA GT3 European Championship, a number of other GT cars were present, including Race Alliance, with its two Aston Martin DBR9 cars and one Porsche 996 GT3 RSR, B-Racing with its Lamborghini Murciélago, PSI with two Corvettes, a C5 and a C6, and Zakspeed, with the Saleen it will enter in the FIA GT Championship. 


The best time over the two days was set by Sascha Bert in the Saleen S7, with a time of 2:01.653 on the Wednesday. The Race Alliance Aston Martin was second, with a time of 2:03.224, with the PSI Corvettes in third and fourth place. 
The B-Racing Lamborghini was sixth on the Wednesday.  A number of drivers tested the car, including Norbert Walchhofer and Marino Franchitti.

While Christophe Bouchut and Jean-Marc Gounon continued the work of testing the GT3 cars for the FIA, the teams and manufacturers continued testing the cars.  Pedro Lamy was driving for Aston Martin, in the DBRS9, while Mike Hezemans and Bert Longin drove the Corvette Z06.  Peter Kox was testing for Reiter Engineering, which had an array of Lamborghini cars present, including the GT3 car, the Gallardo.  Bernhard Müller and Michael Trunk were also driving; they were regulars in the FIA GT Championship in previous years, first in their Porsche 911 GT2, and then in a Lamborghini GTR.

The test also saw the very first kilometres put on the clock of the Venturi Heritage, driven by the 1998 and 1999 FIA GT Champion, Olivier Beretta.
Confirmed GT3 teams Tech9 and Damax were present, with their Porsche and Ascari cars respectively, and tested a number of drivers.