THIRD CONSECUTIVE PODIUM FOR ALPINE AHEAD OF THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS

Among thefront-runners from free practices despite being hit by another competitor in FP2,Les Bleus fine-tuned the setup of their A480 to the specificities of the"Temple of Speed", which shares similarities to the Circuit de laSarthe. Qualifying was entrusted to Nicolas Lapierre, who overcame a trickysession interrupted by a red flag to set the third-best time, less than aquarter of a second off the pole.

On Sunday, AndréNegrão got behind the wheel of the A480 under sunny skies. The Brazilian put ina strong start and overtook the Toyota of Sébastien Buemi before the Swissdriver answered back immediately. Dealing with the traffic that exposed him tothe n°709 Glickenhaus, the team took advantage of the first full course yellow todouble the stint of André Negrão before he handed over to Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Incisive straightaway, the Frenchman moved up to second place after the problem encountered by the#8 Toyota. Although he initially extended his advantage over the Glickenhaus,the intervention of the safety car due to debris on the track benefited hispursuers before Nicolas Lapierre took over shortly after the three-hour mark.

As was the case inqualifying, Nicolas Lapierre set an excellent pace that allowed him to catch upto the leaders. The battle for victory became a duel with less than two hoursto go as the Alpine took the lead after the technical issues of the n°7 Toyotaand the n°709 Glickenhaus.

With differentstrategies, the Alpine and the Toyota exchanged first place as they refuelledand changed drivers. With Mathieu Vaxiviere in the car, Alpine Elf MatmutEndurance Team made its last stop with 40 minutes remaining but their rivalstook advantage of the final full course yellow to make a “free” pit-stop givingthem a big enough lead to control the race just until the chequered flag was brandished.

Mathieu Vaxiviere,who was almost a minute behind his rival, had no opportunity to make up thedeficit in the final 20-minute sprint. Despite another flawless race for theteam and its trio of drivers, the A480 had to settle for second place, justover a minute behind the winners. This result sees Alpine Elf Matmut EnduranceTeam strengthen its second place in the championship while Mathieu Vaxiviere,André Negrão and Nicolas Lapierre are now just 15 points from the leaders inthe drivers' classification.

The next event onthe calendar is shaping up to be historic for Alpine, with the brand founded byJean Rédélé returning to the top-flight category of one of motor racing’s mostprestigious events, the 24 Hours of Le Mans (15-22 August).

Quotes

Philippe Sinault, Team Principal Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team

"The 6 Hours of Monza was agreat event and we are very satisfied with this third consecutive podium. Sincethe beginning of the year, we are confirming our outsiders status and it wasonce again the case today with a perfect performance from both a technical andsporting point of view. We did a good job to manage the race incidents whilepushing our adversaries to the limit, as some of their mistakes show. However,we were slightly less efficient than in Portimão, probably because of the heat.We are still learning and improving in all areas, including autonomy and theamount of energy allocated. Our three drivers did a great job on these aspectstoday. We are as ready as we can be before the challenge that awaits us at LeMans. The next few weeks will be tough with a complete overhaul of the A480 andall its components. There will be a lot of pressure, and we can already feel it,but we are looking forward to it."

Nicolas Lapierre:

"This race was a goodpreparation on a track similar to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Once again, the teamdid an impeccable job on technical aspects and strategy. It's really nice tosee as the challenge of the top-flight category is huge with so many newparameters to manage but the fact that we have run three first races of thisquality is a great success. The goal at Le Mans will be to pressure ouropponents and capitalise on every opportunity. We are ready to take up thischallenge."

André Negrão:

"It was a perfect weekend and thissecond place feels like a win thanks to the excellent work of the team. We hadno problems with the car, we were on the pace, but we were a bit unlucky withthe full course yellows and safety cars. The win was close, but we will keeppushing to show that we are here to fight for the victory at the 24 Hours of LeMans."

Matthieu Vaxiviere:

"As in Spa and Portimão, we rana flawless race and this is tremendously positive heading to Le Mans. We havemade further progress on tyre degradation and the balance between performanceand fuel consumption and we keep finding other areas for improvement with eachstint. I'm having a lot of fun in the cockpit and with the team, but we'refocused on the next few races. The aim will be to keep the momentum going andspring a surprise in the upcoming events, starting with the 24 Hours of Le Mans."

CLASSIFICATIONS

6 Hoursof Monza

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing n°7 – 204 laps

2. Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Teamn°36 +1:00.908s

3. United Autosports n°22 + 4 laps

4. Glickenhaus Racing n°709 + 4 laps

5. Team WRT n°31 + 4 laps

FIAWorld Endurance Championship Hypercar

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing – 90 points

2. Alpine Elf MatmutEndurance Team – 60 points

3. Glickenhaus Racing – 13 points

About Alpine

Founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, thebrand has set itself apart with its French-style sports car. In 2018, the brandpresented the new A110, a sports car faithful to Alpine’s timeless principles ofcompactness, lightness, agility and driving pleasure. In 2021, Alpine Cars,Renault Sport Cars and Renault Sport Racing joined forces under the Alpineflagship. It thus became the brand dedicated to innovative, authentic,exclusive sportscars of Renault Group, benefiting from the heritage andcraftsmanship of its historical plant in Dieppe, as well as the engineeringmastery from the Formula One and Renault Sport teams.

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