The 2013 FIA GT Nogaro, also known as 2013 Easter Cup (French: Coupes de Pâques 2013) was the first of six rounds in the 2013 FIA GT Series season. It took place at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in France between 30 March – 1 April 2013. The race was the first race under the newly renamed FIA GT Series after the FIA GT1 World Championship name was discontinued due to no GT1-spec cars competing.
The most notable entrants are nine-times World Rally Championship champion Sébastien Loeb racing with his own team and former professional football goalkeeper Fabien Barthez competing racing in the Gentleman Trophy with SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion. Also competing in the race is reigning FIA GT3 European Championship Teams champions HTP Gravity Charouz as well as one of the reigning Drivers' champions from 2012 Maximilian Bühk who will enter in the Pro Cup. His team mate last season Dominik Baumann also competes in the series for Grasser Racing in the Pro-Am Cup.
Qualifying
Qualifying result Qualifying took place on Saturday 30 March and determined the grid for the Qualifying Race the next day. Rather than the usual knockout qualifying sessions seen in the past series, there were two qualifying sessions for all twenty-four cars. The fastest ten times from the two combined sessions would go through to the Superpole session where they would compete for pole position. Seeing as the first session was partly wet, everybody set their fastest time in session two. As a result, the fastest ten drivers from session two went through to the Superpole session.
René Rast set the fastest time in the Superpole session for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and would start in pole position for the Qualifying Race.
Driver 1 Team Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Superpole Driver 2 1 12 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 1:35.718 1:27.107 1:26.091 1 René Rast 2 9 Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb Racing 1:29.359 1:26.840 1:26.210 2 Álvaro Parente 3 13 Edward Sandström Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 1:30.780 1:27.000 1:26.528 3 Frank Stippler 4 11 Stéphane Ortelli Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 1:30.530 1:26.670 1:26.779 4 Laurens Vanthoor 5 14 César Campaniço Team Novadriver 1:30.795 1:27.174 1:26.862 15 Carlos Vieira 6 0 Cacá Bueno BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil 1:30.247 1:27.601 1:27.110 5 Allam Khodair 7 35 Alex Buncombe Nissan GT Academy Team RJN 1:31.272 1:27.145 1:27.436 6 Lucas Ordóñez 8 5 Anthony Kumpen Phoenix Racing 1:31.138 1:27.774 1:27.474 7 Enzo Ide 9 10 Mike Parisy Sébastien Loeb Racing 1:30.290 1:26.804 no time 8 Andreas Zuber 10 1 Maximilian Buhk HTP Gravity Charouz 1:29.166 1:27.797 no time 9 Alon Day 11 21 Sérgio Jimenez BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil 1:30.344 1:27.860 10 Ricardo Zonta 12 28 Karun Chandhok Seyffarth Motorsport 1:31.815 1:27.920 11 Jan Seyffarth 13 25 Dominik Baumann Grasser Racing 1:32.278 1:28.147 12 Harald Proczyk 14 7 Cláudio Ricci Rodrive Competições 1:29.976 1:28.334 13 Matheus Stumpf 15 2 Sergey Afanasyev HTP Gravity Charouz 1:29.359 1:28.397 14 Andreas Simonsen 16 32 Wolfgang Reip Nissan GT Academy Team RJN 1:31.794 1:29:050 16 Mark Shulzhitskiy 17 6 Julien Jousse BMW Sports Trophy Team India 1:31.391 1:29.145 17 Armaan Ebrahim 18 31 Fabien Barthez SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion 1:39.046 1:29.426 18 Gérard Tonelli 19 16 Daniel Keilwitz Dörr Motorsport 1:29.990 1:29.463 19 Niclas Kentenich 20 30 Soheil Ayari SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion 1:34.513 1:29.656 20 Jean-Luc Beaubélique 21 8 Raijan Mascarello Rodrive Competições 1:38.768 1:31.522 21 Felipe Tozzo 22 3 Petr Charouz HTP Gravity Charouz 1:41.527 1:39.063 22 Jan Stoviček DNS 51 Fabio Onidi AF Corse no time no time 23 Filip Salaquarda
Race results Class winners in bold.
Qualifying Race Pos Class No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 Pro 9 Sébastien Loeb Racing Sébastien Loeb Álvaro Parente McLaren 39 2 Pro-Am 12 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof René Rast Audi 39 +5.323 3 Pro 1 HTP Gravity Charouz Maximilian Buhk Alon Day Mercedes-Benz 39 +5.511 4 Pro 5 Phoenix Racing Anthony Kumpen Enzo Ide Audi 39 +25.257 5 Pro-Am 14 Team Novadriver César Campaniço Carlos Vieira Audi 39 +25.928 6 Pro 28 Seyffarth Motorsport Karun Chandhok Jan Seyffarth Mercedes-Benz 39 +41.088 7 Pro 0 BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil Cacá Bueno Allam Khodair BMW 39 +47.646 8 Pro 21 BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil Sérgio Jimenez Ricardo Zonta BMW 39 +49.278 9 Pro 7 Rodrive Competições Cláudio Ricci Matheus Stumpf Ford 39 +58.852 10 Pro 10 Sébastien Loeb Racing Mike Parisy Andreas Zuber McLaren 39 +59.938 11 Pro-Am 6 BMW Sport Trophy Team India Julien Jousse Armaan Ebrahim BMW 39 +1:04.496 12 Pro-Am 25 Grasser Racing Dominik Baumann Harald Proczyk Lamborghini 39 +1:07.981 13 Pro-Am 2 HTP Gravity Charouz Sergey Afanasyev Andreas Simonsen Mercedes-Benz 39 +1:09.067 14 Pro-Am 32 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Wolfgang Reip Mark Shulzhitskiy Nissan 39 +1:19.144 15 Gent. 31 SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion Fabien Barthez Gérard Tonelli Ferrari 38 +1 Lap 16 Pro 11 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Stéphane Ortelli Laurens Vanthoor Audi 38 +1 Lap 17 Gent. 8 Rodrive Competições Raijan Mascarello Felipe Tozzo Ford 37 +2 Laps 18 Gent. 3 HTP Gravity Charouz Petr Charouz Jan Stoviček Mercedes-Benz 37 +2 Laps 19 Pro-Am 35 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Alex Buncombe Lucas Ordóñez Nissan 36 Mechanical DNF Pro 16 Dörr Motorsport Daniel Keilwitz Niclas Kentenich McLaren 18 Mechanical DNF Pro 13 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Edward Sandström Frank Stippler Audi 17 Electrical DNF Pro-Am 30 SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion Soheil Ayari Jean-Luc Beaubélique Ferrari 1 Mechanical DNS Pro-Am 51 AF Corse Fabio Onidi Filip Salaquarda Ferrari – Collision Damage
Championship Race Pos Class No. Team Drivers Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired 1 Pro 13 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Edward Sandström Frank Stippler Audi 35 2 Pro 11 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Stéphane Ortelli Laurens Vanthoor Audi 35 +8.041 3 Pro 1 HTP Gravity Charouz Maximilian Buhk Alon Day Mercedes-Benz 35 +8.950 4 Pro 5 Phoenix Racing Anthony Kumpen Enzo Ide Audi 35 +10.085 5 Pro-Am 14 Team Novadriver César Campaniço Carlos Vieira Audi 35 +15.248 6 Pro-Am 12 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof René Rast Audi 35 +18.050 7 Pro-Am 35 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Alex Buncombe Lucas Ordóñez Nissan 35 +18.637 8 Pro-Am 25 Grasser Racing Dominik Baumann Harald Proczyk Lamborghini 35 +31.438 9 Pro 0 BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil Cacá Bueno Allam Khodair BMW 35 +34.599 10 Pro 28 Seyffarth Motorsport Karun Chandhok Jan Seyffarth Mercedes-Benz 35 +35.056 11 Pro 10 Sébastien Loeb Racing Mike Parisy Andreas Zuber McLaren 35 +36.407 12 Pro 9 Sébastien Loeb Racing Sébastien Loeb Álvaro Parente McLaren 35 +41.035 13 Pro 21 BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil Sérgio Jimenez Ricardo Zonta BMW 35 +53.581 14 Pro-Am 32 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Wolfgang Reip Mark Shulzhitskiy Nissan 35 +1:08.461 15 Pro-Am 7 Rodrive Competições Cláudio Ricci Matheus Stumpf Ford 35 +1:15.160 16 Pro-Am 2 HTP Gravity Charouz Sergey Afanasyev Andreas Simonsen Mercedes-Benz 35 +1:23.670 17 Pro 16 Dörr Motorsport Daniel Keilwitz Niclas Kentenich McLaren 35 +1:24.393 18 Pro-Am 6 BMW Sports Trophy Team India Julien Jousse Armaan Ebrahim BMW 34 +1 Lap 19 Pro-Am 30 SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion Soheil Ayari Jean-Luc Beaubélique Ferrari 34 +1 Lap 20 Gent. 31 SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion Fabien Barthez Gérard Tonelli Ferrari 34 +1 Lap 21 Gent. 3 HTP Gravity Charouz Petr Charouz Jan Stoviček Mercedes-Benz 33 +2 Laps 22 Gent. 8 Rodrive Competições Raijan Mascarello Felipe Tozzo Ford 33 +2 Laps DNS Pro-Am 51 AF Corse Fabio Onidi Filip Salaquarda Ferrari – Collision Damage