Fabien Barthez roars to motorsport success

Paris: Former Manchester United keeper Fabien Barthez is France’s GT motorsport champion.

Barthez, a World Cup winner with France in 1998, and Sofrev ASP team-mate Morgan Moullin-Traffort finished fifth and eighth in the last two races of the series to take the title.

And the field at the Paul Ricard circuit included nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb. Barthez and Moullin-Traffort won four races in the 2013 series in their 200mph Ferrari 458 Italia GT, making the podium seven times.

Barthez, 42, turned to motorsport in 2008 after retiring from football a year earlier. The 87-cap France international said: “I have always been fascinated by motorsport, even when I was playing football. It always intrigued me. I wanted to understand what it felt like being in a car. I had to wait until the end of my pro career to try it. That said, it’s not like football: you can still be good even when you are 35, which was my age when I stopped playing.”

Barthez, who won two Premier League titles in his three seasons at Old Trafford, is considering entering the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Speaking to Le Mans Live he said: “Would I like to do the 24 Hours one day? I don’t know yet. Maybe I won’t like the experience, or I won’t be good enough. We’ll see.”