Pressiteade
As the sessions progressed, thetrio set faster and faster times and completed 190 laps, or just over 1,330kilometres, with no reliability issues. The team continued to work hard onThursday and Friday, setting the benchmark time in the second free practicesession and added 92 laps to their tally before handing over to NicolasLapierre for qualifying.
The challenge of this ten-minute raceagainst the clock became even more difficult when the A480 encountered a sensorproblem forcing Nicolas Lapierre to return to the pits. He then went back out fora single lap, which resulted in third place in the Hypercar category.
On Saturday, the tension rose up anotch with the first race of the season. Despite a good start, André Negrão wassurprised by two rivals before starting his comeback at the end of the firstlap. The Brazilian quickly regained his initial position and was even on theprovisional overall podium after 20 minutes before continuing pushing on in hissecond stint before handing over to Nicolas Lapierre.
With a shift in tactics, the A480took the lead before the third hour while Nicolas Lapierre combined performanceand consistency to consolidate Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team's place amongthe contenders for victory. The crew was about to lead a large portion of therace, alternating with the Toyota.
Shortly after the halfway point,Matthieu Vaxiviere took over and showed his speed by being the fastest on trackin his first competitive laps with the Alpine colours. Thanks to the team'sexemplary reactivity during the first full course yellow of the race, they keptthe leaders under pressure and the n°36 car gained a position when the n°7Toyota made a trip into the gravel.
With less than an hour and a halfto go, Matthieu Vaxiviere returned to the pits to hand over to André Negrão,who had a minor contact with a backmarker. The Brazilian was on the lookout forthe slightest opportunity and was in the lead until his final stop with thirty-eightminutes remaining.
Shortly afterwards, a final fullrace yellow gave the leading Toyota some breathing space, avoiding what couldhave been a splash-and-dash in the final stretch. Despite all their efforts,the Brazilian and the A480 then finished second, just over a minute behind thewinners.
Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Teamnow shifts its focus to the 8 Hours of Portimão. The second round of the 2021FIA World Endurance Championship season will take place on 13 June.
QUOTES
PhilippeSinault, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team Principal
NicolasLapierre:
"We can be satisfied and proud of the incredible workdone by the team compared to our competitors who seemed more nervous today. Apartfrom the slight sensor problem in qualifying, we made good progress throughoutthe week with a reliable car. We also had a lot of fun behind the wheel eventhough our limited range was somewhat frustrating. This is among the minorpoints to be corrected and optimised both by the championship authorities andby us as it was our first race with the A480. It was still a really solid raceand the weeks leading up to Portimão promise to be exciting."
AndréNegrão:
"It's been a fantastic start to the season andthe fight against the Toyotas is looking really intense. I believe we did agreat job, but we need to look at the data as I feel the A480 has even morepotential in the window of our balance of performance. My only regret was theminor incident in the race when I made a small mistake in thinking a backmarkersaw me and was opening the door. Fortunately, we got away with a small puncturewhich did not impact the final result."
MatthieuVaxiviere:
"We worked all week to have a good race, and we managedto do that by avoiding mistakes and penalties. We aimed to catch Toyota, andthat's exactly what we did, showing that we are here to fight. We still havesome work to do though. I already have a great feeling with the car on asingle-lap pace, but I also need to analyse how I can optimise the tyre management.We are going in the right direction and that bodes well for the future. The battlehas only just begun!"
CLASSIFICATIONS
Total6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing n°8 – 162 laps
2. Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team n°36 +1:07.196s
3. Toyota Gazoo Racing n°7 + 1 lap
4. United Autosports USA n°22 + 1 lap
5. JOTA n°38 + 2 laps
FIAWorld Endurance Championship
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing – 26 points
2. Alpine Elf MatmutEndurance Team– 18 points
About Alpine
Founded in 1955 by JeanRédélé, the brand has set itself apart with its French-style sports car. In2018, the brand presented the new A110, a sports car faithful to Alpine’stimeless principles of compactness, lightness, agility and driving pleasure. The Alpine business unit is created in 2021. It thusbecame the brand dedicated to innovative, authentic, exclusive sportscars ofGroupe Renault, benefiting from the heritage and craftsmanship of itshistorical plant in Dieppe, as well as the engineering mastery from the AlpineRacing and Alpine Cars teams.
Press Contacts
| Christophe DEVILLE Alpine Motorsport Communications Manager Christophe.deville@alpinecars.com GillesGAUTHEROT GMCommunications Alpine Gilles.gautherot@alpinecars.com +33 (6) 11 76 0938 Websites Follow us on Twitter: @Alpine_cars - @SignatechAlpine Follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/alpinesportscars Galerii
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AN HISTORICAL MAIDEN PODIUM IN THE HYPERCAR CLASS FOR ALPINE ELF M...
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