A The 2008 FIA GT3 Championship season continues to be a nail biter. The Callaway Corvette team arrived at Nogaro, France for rounds nine and ten with high hopes to take the lead away from the #20 Matech Ford GT. The #20 Ford drivers Mutsch/Khan came to Nogaro with a two-point lead in the driver’s championship over the Callaway Corvette.

Race nine saw Peyroles fourth on the grid and Khan thirteenth. When the green flag fell Khan moved up to tenth while Peyroles moved up to third. On lap four Martin Matzke’s Corvette made contact with Khan causing him to spin into the kitty litter. It took three laps to extract the Ford, which was huge news for the Callaway team. On lap fifteen Ruffier took over from Peyroles and quickly passed the #21 second place Ford GT. Next, James set his sights on the leading Aston Martin.

The gap was down to four seconds and with nine minutes to go it looked like a huge opportunity for Corvette to take the championship lead. Suddenly the Corvette began trailing heavy smoke and finally pulled off course with five minutes remaining. Ruffier inhaled a lot of smoke from inside the car, but after a rest he soon recovered. It was a huge heartbreak for the drivers and team. Undaunted the Callaway team started dismantling the wounded Corvette and after a hard all nighter the Corvette was declared ready to race at 6 am Sunday morning.

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