On Sunday, Olivier Pernaut, Sébastien Duez and Raymond Narac took the French GT Championship title in the last round of the season. For Olivier Panis it was a final in more ways than one. The man who has run 158 Formula One Grand Prix announced his retirement from GT. He confirmed he will still be racing on ice in the Trophée Andros this winter but last weekend was “definitely the last on the GT Tour.”

Grenoble-born Panis will be focusing on a new project: “Quite simply, next year, I’ll be working on campaigns with the team I’m setting up with Fabien [Barthez].” The two sports stars have founded Panis-Barthez Compétition and plan to enter a Ligier JS P2 - Nissan in the LM P2 of the European Le Mans Series.

The project seems a good reason to bow out of a championship in which he has competed for six seasons and can boast to have been vice-champion. “I’ve had a great time in the FFSA GT championship.” In the first year, 2009, teammate Eric Debard won the championship. “I couldn’t claim the title because I missed a round when I was racing with Oreca.” With the Oreca 01-AIM that he shared with Nicolas Lapierre, Panis pulled off his first win in endurance racing, the 1000 kilometres of Silverstone. “But it’s still a good memory. We also had a good year in 2012, we fought hard right down to the line and finished vice-champions.”

Panis is quite at home in endurance having raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times. His biggest achievement in the discipline is to have won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2011 with Loïc Duval and Nicolas Lapierre in the Peugeot 908 HDi fielded by Team Oreca Matmut.

David Bristol / ACO – Translated from French by Emma Paulay

Quotes courtesy of GT Tour website (Thomas Lacondemine)

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, TUESDAY 8 JUNE 2010, AUTOGRAPH SESSION. Olivier Panis at the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours with Nicolas Lapierre (centre) and Loïc Duval (right).