Pressiteade
The team was hard at work as earlyas Thursday to kick off its week in summer-like temperatures. After two free-practicesessions, Les Bleus switched their attention to qualifying where they postedthe tenth best time at just 0.183s from a place in the Hyperpole session.
After two more free-practicesessions and the warm-up, which were used to fine-tune the very last details,the race started at 14h30. Behind the wheel of the n°36 Alpine A470, André Negrãointended to make one of his well-known deft starts, but the Brazilian returnedto the pits at the end of the opening lap due to a leak froma water circuit connection.
The Signatech Alpine Elf mechanicsmade the repairs in just seven minutes, but André Negrão received adrive-through penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry.
He went back out, a little more thantwo laps behind the leaders, but the drivers would work twice as hard. In 59thplace after 10 minutes, André Negrão, Thomas Laurent and Pierre Ragues strungtogether a series of pushing stints and overtakes between the GT cars, then theLMP2 entries to rejoin the top 20 at the six-hour mark of the race.
Thanks to daring strategyadjustments while the safety car periods came in waves at dusk, the PhilippeSinault led team was back in the LMP2 category top ten at half-distance.
Far from throwing in the towel, thetrio continued their comeback with triple stints in the middle of the longest LeMans night since the race held in September of 1968 - the same in which Alpinewon the Index of Thermal Efficiency Energy and Index of Performance with theA210.
Like is always the case at Le Mans,the hours in darkness catch out numerous competitors, including some of theteam’s rivals in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Signatech Alpine Elftook advantage to accelerate its comeback while also optimizing the requireddriving time of each driver during the night and early morning.
Apart from a spin withoutconsequences, the team put in a faultless performance on the track but alsowith its strategy and excellence during the pit-stops. All of this allowed then°36 Alpine A470 to slot in just outside the overall top ten at dawn.
After the last stints of PierreRagues in the morning, the team was counting on the last five hours to pushhard with André Negrão and Thomas Laurent. Both were doing double stints in afascinating duel with n°39 Graff entry before it went off the track and led tothe intervention of the safety car.
Charged with completing the crew'scomeback, André Negrão also capitalised on the unexpected pit-stop of the n°26G-Drive car to move up to fourth place and maintained the position after a splash-and-dashnine minutes from the chequers.
Signatech Alpine Elf thus concluded its Le Mans adventurein LMP2 just off the podium, but more importantly it tallied three victories(2016, 2018 and 2019) and two three places finishes (2014, 2017) beforeentering the LMP1 category next year.
The team will make its LMP2 swan song at the final round ofthe 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship in Bahrain on Saturday November14.
Quotes
Philippe Sinault, Team principal Signatech Alpine Elf
"The podiumwas both so close and so far. That's also why we all love this race. Anythingcan happen and the emotional rollercoaster is always there. For us, it began atthe start with a combination of circumstances that caused an extremely raretechnical issue as we think it was due to a contact at the first braking zone.We were able to stay calm by repairing it in seven minutes before maintainingour very aggressive strategy. The night was quite difficult but we got throughthe pitfalls and moved up fairly quickly. Le Mans then worked its magic in thelast hour. This fourth place might leave us with some regrets, but the threecars in front didn't encounter any problems and that's the key here. Le Mansdecided that we were destined for fourth place. I am also very proud of the waywe forged our result and performance this year. We proved that we were ready,that we were not giving up and that strategy was really our area of focus,especially at Le Mans. We can't wait to come back!”
André Negrão
"I see thisfourth place as another win at Le Mans. After the problem we encountered at thestart of the race, we really went for this result to prove all the qualities ofour team. The car was incredible and we had the same pace as the three crews onthe podium. Alas, Le Mans is sometimes like that, but we can be proud of thework done by everyone both during the day and at night.”
Pierre Ragues
"We reallyhave nothing to be ashamed of. We played our best strategy once we solved theproblem at the start. We finished just off the podium with the race incidents inthis crazy last hour and this shows once again that you always have to count onthe team and that no one ever gives up. It is really impressive and it makesyou even more proud to be part of it.”
Thomas Laurent
"It was a verypositive race where the performance was on point. The issue André had at thestart is a shame because the podium was really within our reach. The mechanicsgave the best of themselves during all the pit stops, the engineers were spoton, making the right decisions at the right times. There are many positivepoints to remember from this fourth place and it is up to us to do our best tofinish the season in style in Bahrain!”
