Pouchelon Racing pair Anothony Reid and Gilles Duqueine missed out a maiden victory in the FIA GT3 European Championship after a timing error in the opening race at Oschersleben saw them demoted to second place.
Duqueine had started the race on pole position in the #29 Dodge Viper and soon pulled out a lead on the Ferrari of points leader Hector Lester – almost ten seconds ahead of the pack after nine laps.
With Reid, who established himself as one of the quickest drivers in the field at Silverstone, set to take over for the second half of the race, the Viper looked in good shape and the Scot took over behind the wheel on lap 15 after a safety car period – holding the lead ahead of the Corvette of James Ruffier.
The two battled for the remainder of the race as the Corvette tried to find a way past, but at the flag it was Reid who led by less than half a second to give the team its first GT3 victory.
However podium celebrations were soon scrapped as the timekeepers checked manual lap scoring charts, with those charts showing the Italian Viper of Ceccato and Livio, which had suffered a transponder failure while pitting, to be ahead – even though the car hadn't passed Duqueine or Reid on track.
It meant they were awarded the win, leaving the Pouchelon pair with second.
“We led from the start, we were never overtaken and yet we are second,” Duqueine said. “I just can't believe it.” Anthony Reid was equally unhappy “What do we have to do to win?”
Unluckily for the team, neither of the other cars would make the finish.
Race two saw more disappointment for Duqueine and Reid as a problem during the driver change dropped them down the order. Reid had started from eighth on the grid and then endured a tough battle with the Corvette of Marc Sourd – the two making contact while fighting for fourth.
“The race with Ruffier yesterday was hard but completely fair,” Reid said afterwards. “The contact today was unnecessary.”
Reid then pitted early in the window to allow Duqueine a shot at the action but frustratingly, the Frenchman couldn't restart Viper engine and a push start was required. This meant a stop/go penalty for external assistance, on top of the time already lost in the driver change and dropped the car towards the back of the field, although Duqueine would fight back to 19th by the flag.
While the Dubrulle/Morel car would again retire, it was left to Wido Roessler and David Hallyday to uphold Pouchelon honours in race two. Roessler held tenth at the end of the opening lap and was continuing to make progress when he spun – dropping down to 18th. He made up four places before handing the car over to French singer Hallyday who produced a stunning drive up the order to take the flag in sixth place.
