Pressiteade
Immediately on pace, the PhilippeSinault led team handed the qualifying duties to Pierre Ragues and ThomasLaurent and the Frenchmen did well to qualify fifth overall and third in LMP2.
With the sun at its peak, AndréNegrão got behind the wheel and as usual put in an excellent start. TheBrazilian picked up a position with an outstanding outside move on the n]37Jackie Chan Racing entry before filling up the mirrors of the category leader.
After his first stop, André Negrão wasstuck in the pitlane traffic but he didn't give up despite the lost time and pushedeven harder before handing over to Pierre Ragues.
The driver from Normandy was doing aterrific job when the team detected a fuel consumption problem, which reducedthe planned number of laps per stint. Far from throwing in the towel, the team adaptedits strategy in sending Thomas Laurent out, which allowed the n°36 Alpine toreduce the gap. Pierre Ragues was next in the car before the return of AndréNegrão for a stint marked by a safety car period.
The field was tightly bunched athalf-distance as the sun fell in the land of a thousand and one nights. SignatechAlpine Elf chose to pit at the restart to try an undercut move. This tactic sawthe Brazilian, then Thomas Laurent and Pierre Rauges join the battle for thewin as the n°36 Alpine A470 came back on top of the category.
Once in the lead, the crew hoped foranother caution to hold on to first place just until the chequered flag. Despitea perfect job from both the mechanics and the drivers, the gamble didn't pay offin the end and the trio had to make a final splash and dash stop with 15minutes remaining in the race.
Thomas Laurent crossed the finishline in fifth place, assuring the team fifth place in the championship. Despitethis frustrating result, Signatech Alpine Elf leaves LMP2 with its head heldhigh with three victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as seven pole positions,eight wins, 24 podium finishes and two world titles in just five seasons in theFIA WEC.
Signatech Alpine Elf will now spend the winter preparingits future LMP1 entry and will return to competition in the elite categoryunder the name of Alpine Endurance Team at Sebring (United States) from March13-19, 2021.
Quotes
Philippe Sinault, Team principal Signatech Alpine Elf
"This race encapsulateswhat has been a frustrating season for us. We would have liked to complete oursuccess story with a podium or a victory in the last race of our LMP2adventure. This was within our reach because we were competitive straight awayin Bahrain. We quickly managed to find the ideal compromise between performanceand tyre degradation required by this track and we confirmed it with our goodqualifying runs. André made one of his amazing start to allow us to stay incontact with the leaders. Pierre also did a solid job in running with the top endurancedrivers while Thomas was incredibly quick and closed the gap to the leaders.Unfortunately, a fuel consumption issue forced us to run less laps per stintthan expected. We didn't know how to fix the problem during the race, so we optedfor a more aggressive strategy during the safety car period. This allowed us totake the lead, but we were exposed in the absence of another neutralization andwe had to make a splash-and-dash with fifteen minutes to go. But we have noregrets because we showed all of our fighting spirit just until the end. Thisrace concludes a complicated year during which we have shown an excellent levelof performance despite a clear lack of luck. This also ends a wonderful chapterthat we will build on to meet the formidable challenge that awaits us in 2021!”
André Negrão
"Our pace wasas good as our rivals, but our fuel system issue made us use more fuel thanexpected, and obviously more than our rivals. We gave everything we had to putin a good race for this last appearance of Alpine in LMP2. It was a strangeseason in more ways than one and our fifth place in the championship doesn't reallyreflect our target nor our potential, but it was a real pleasure to be part ofthis great team that is Signatech Alpine Elf.”
PierreRagues
"Given theteam's dominance in LMP2 over the last few years, we all wanted to end thischapter on a high. Unfortunately, this finale was symbolic of the season, as welacked a bit of good fortune to convert our excellent speed and aggressivestrategy into a solid result. It came down to a race incident that never happened,but no regrets as we all wanted to finish on a positive. Despite thefrustration, we have to remember our good performances in 2020 after acomplicated beginning to the season and I would like to thank the whole SignatechAlpine Elf team for all our fantastic adventures together.”
ThomasLaurent
"Despite adisappointing result, we ended the year on a good note as our performance levelwas excellent. We could have done much better than the classification reflects.We were right in the mix and I had a lot of fun behind the wheel as thelaptimes showed. Pierre did a superb job as did André throughout the race. Theteam also excelled in the pits and we were able to run at the sharp end of theorder even if luck was unfortunately not on our side. I want to remember thepositive points though and I learned a lot from the team during this longseason.”
Classification
8 Hours ofBahrain – LMP2
1. Jackie ChanDC Racing n°37 247 laps
2. JOTA n°38 +1.894s
3. Racing Team Nederlandn°29 +16.718s
4. United Autosports n°22+28.191s
5. Signatech Alpine Elfn°36 + 1 minute
6. Cetilar Racing n°47 + 16laps
FIA LMP2 Teams Trophy
1. United Autosports n°22– 190 points
2. JOTA n°38 – 152 points
3. Jackie Chan DC Racingn°37 – 136 points
4. Racing Team Nederlandn°29 – 130 points
5. Signatech Alpine Elfn°36 – 109 points
6. Cool Racing n°42 – 103points
7. Cetilar Racing n°33 – 72 points
8. High Class Racing n°33 – 47 points
