Jodie Sloss scores top-5 finish on FFSA GT4 debut
- LIAM REDFORD
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
Jodie Sloss scored a top-5 finish as she stepped up to the Championnat de France FFSA GT4, where she secured a fourth-place finish in the Am class during a wet race one at Nogaro, just missing out on a podium by less than half a second piloting the Mirage Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo.
Scottish racer Jodie Sloss scored a top-5 finish as she stepped up to the Championnat de France FFSA GT4. Racing alongside David Levy in a Mirage Racing prepared Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo, Sloss secured a fourth-place finish in the Am class during race one at Nogaro.
After missing out on a podium finish by less than half a second in a wet race one, Levy was involved in an incident at the start of race two which prevented Sloss from showing her potential in dry conditions.
Continuing her relationship with Aston Martin for the 2025 season, Sloss stepped up into Championnat de France FFSA GT4 as she embarked on a full-season campaign in the Am class alongside David Levy. Racing at the top level of French GT4 competition was a fresh challenge for Jodie as she would learn new tracks throughout the campaign, beginning with technical Nogaro circuit.
Sloss had previously enjoyed success in GT4 competition after securing multiple podium finishes in the GT Cup Championship for Forsetti Motorsport. Competing in both sprint and endurance races in an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo, she was looking to combine her knowledge of the car with Levy’s experience of the circuits.
In 2024, Levy was a frontrunner in the Championnat de France FFSA Tourisme series and has previously stood on the podium in the Am class of the Championnat de France FFSA GT4 in both an Alpine A110 GT4 and a Ginetta G55 GT4. Now switching to reigning GT4 European Series Pro-Am champions Mirage Racing, Sloss and Levy were aiming to bring together their past experiences to fight for podiums positions within the Am class.
On-track action began on Friday as Sloss and Levy participated in two test sessions. It was a productive day as Sloss learnt the Nogaro circuit with the pair finishing both session in fourth place within the Am class.
On Saturday, conditions changed dramatically with heavy rain leading to a wet track. This allowed Sloss and Levy to build up their confidence in a range of conditions as the Mirage Racing duo competed in both free practice and pre-qualifying. After finishing fifth in the first wet session, Sloss and Levy ended the day in fourth position within class after completing a session-high 33 laps in pre-qualifying.
For qualifying on Sunday morning, conditions were once again dry with Sloss driving in the first twenty-minute session. After a strong start to her debut qualifying session, a late red flag following an incident for Lorens Lecertua disrupted the session, before a five-minute restart took place. Sloss set a fastest time of a 1:32.677 which placed her 13th overall, fourth in the Am class.
David Levy drove in the second session for Mirage Racing which immediately followed the first period of qualifying. It was a strong session for Levy whose quickest lap of a 1:32.619 placed the French driver in 12th position overall, third in the Am class. With Sloss and Levy extremely evenly matched in qualifying, this was encouraging ahead of two one-hour races to follow.
Race one of the weekend took place on Sunday afternoon with extremely wet conditions returning to Nogaro. Sloss took the start and was looking to use her wet weather experience from the previous day to good effect. The Mirage Racing driver did a nice job to remain fourth in class following the opening lap, while moving ahead of Ethan Gialdini after he had a spin in his Ginetta G56 GT4.
Remaining on the circuit was a challenge in the early stages and with the spray limiting visibility, Sloss was driving smartly to remain with the Am class frontrunners. On lap three, a recovering Gialdini made his way through with Yves Lemaitre now closing in on Sloss. The Alpine A110 GT4 cars were showing good performance in the early stages and on lap four, Lemaitre moved his Code Racing Development machine ahead.
Lemaitre quickly moved into a provisional podium position as he passed Thomas Leal with the Circuit Toys Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO now directly ahead. Sloss was running consistent times as she caught Leal and by lap six, she was just a quarter of a second behind her Am class rival. As her stint progressed, Sloss continued to apply pressure to Leal in an attempt to force him into a mistake in the challenging conditions.
With the pit window approaching, Matthieu Casalonga began to close in on Sloss and he moved into the top-5 of the Am class with a pass on lap 13. Despite losing a couple of positions late in her stint, Sloss remained error-free as she handed the car over to David Levy for the second stint.
A smart strategy play from the Mirage Racing team saw Sloss pit at the start of the pit window, in contrast to many of their rivals, and this decision proved beneficial. Following the conclusion of the pit cycle, Levy had moved ahead of three cars in the Am class and he had now taken over third position.
Casalonga was just running just a couple of seconds behind Levy as the battle for the final spot on the podium intensified. The GPA Racing driver began closing in as he cut the gap to less than one second on lap 23. After a good defence from Levy, Casalonga moved ahead on lap 27 after a short full course yellow period with Levy tucking in right behind.
Levy did a nice job to apply pressure to Casalonga in the final stages of the race with the Mirage Racing driver ensuring the gap remained under two seconds. With less than five minutes, the margin was less than one second and Levy mounted one final challenge on the last lap of the race. After sector one, Levy was barely a tenth of a second behind Casalonga but the GPA Racing driver held on to the final spot on the podium with Levy and Sloss finishing race one of the weekend in 12th position overall, fourth in the Am class.
For the second race on Monday afternoon, conditions had improved and the track was fully dry. David Levy started the Mirage Racing machine from 12th position overall, third in the Am class. Levy made a clean start and was able to move ahead of the Pro-Am class machine of Julien Paget, while holding a provisional podium position in the Am class.
Paget reclaimed the place on lap two, while both drivers were looking to overtake the duelling Am class pair of Stephane Auriacombe and Florent Grizaud. On lap three, Paget overtook Grizaud and Levy did a nice job to follow him through and claim second position within the Am class.
As the drivers fought for positions down the back straight on lap four, misfortune struck as Levy’s Mirage Racing machine made contact with Paget’s JSB Competition Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS CS and both cars were beached in the gravel trap with damage.
It was an unfortunate end to Sloss’ debut weekend in Championnat de France FFSA GT4 after Jodie and teammate David Levy showed potential to challenge for podium positions within the Am class.
Nonetheless, Sloss gained experience in both wet and dry conditions which will serve her well as the season progresses. The next round of the championship for the Mirage Racing duo will take place at Dijon-Prenois on the weekend of 10th/11th May.