From World Cup winner and Manchester United goalkeeper to motor racing champion in a 200mph Ferrari... here's France legend Fabien Barthez as you've never seen him before

Former Manchester United and France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has been crowned champion of France’s GT motorsport series.

Barthez and Sofrev ASP team-mate Morgan Moullin-Traffort finished fifth and eighth in the last two races of the series' final weekend at the Paul Ricard circuit to seal the championship by 21 points.



The field for the series featured nine-time world rally championship winner Sebastien Loeb.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch ex-Man Utd keeper Fabien Barthez flying lap in Ferrari F430



King of the crop: Barthez holds aloft the France GT Championship at the Paul Ricard circuit

Team-mates: The former France No 1 swaps places with Morgan Moullin-Traffort

Need for speed: Barthez - seen here racing at the Paul Ricard circuit on Sunday - took up motorsport in 2008

Hat's off: Barthez watches on from the paddock as Moullin-Traffort races

Champagne moment: The former United keeper celebrates with his rivals (above) and team-mate (below)

DRIVING AMBITION

The French GT championship is among the most competitive in European motor racing.

It features a host of world-renowned car manufacturers from Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche.

Barthez‘s Ferrari 458 is capable of top speeds of 202mph and can reach 60mph in just three seconds. But it will cost you.

The motor retails at a whopping £200,000. AUTOCAR recently ranked the Ferrari 458 Italia as the world’s best supercar ahead of the McLaren 12C, Mercedes-Benz SLS and Audi R8.

Barthez and Moullin-Traffort won four races in the 2013 series in their Ferrari 458 Italia GT - which can travel up to 200mph - and stood on seven podiums.



The Ferrari is a similar model to the one driven by the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Jack Wilshere around the streets of London.



Barthez, 42, only began a career in motorsport in 2008 after retiring from football a year earlier.

The 87-cap international told Le Mans live: ‘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.’

In good company: Footballers John Terry (above) and Jack Wilshere (below) drive their Ferrari 458s

Change of scenery: Barthez poses for the cameras inside his team's garage

It didn't start so well... Barthez crashes out of his first race back in 2008 He has also admitted to considering entering the Le Mans 24-hour race. Barthez said: 'Le Mans is something else altogether.

'Would I like to do the Le Mans 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…'

Barthez was rated among the world's best goalkeepers in the late 1990s and won the World Cup with France in 1998 before moving to United in 2000. He did not hit the heights expected of him while at Old Trafford, however, and was loaned out to Marseille in 2003 before joining the French club permanently a year later.

Finest hour: Barthez lifts the World Cup at the Stade de France in 1998

