ALPINE RETAINS FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH SECOND IN SPA

Victoriousat Sebring, Alpine Elf Endurance Team and its three drivers arrived in Belgiumintending to carry on their strong start to the season.

FromThursday, the team used the three free practice sessions to deal with thebalance of performances adjustments, focusing most particularly on energymanagement and fuel consumption. After this thorough preparation for the race,Matthieu Vaxiviere was given the task of qualifying the car. The Frenchman wason the pace immediately, taking second place in an immensely competitivesession, with the entire Hypercar category covered by four-tenths of a second.

For his second consecutive start on the front row, André Negrão got awaystrong before being boxed in at the exit of turn one by the pole sitter.Vulnerable to those tucked in his slipstream, the Brazilian slipped back tofourth place. After a solid first stint where he managed to stay in contactwith the leaders despite the traffic, the race became chaotic with an accidentcausing a safety car period, then a red flag during which the heavens opened.

Hour two was allabout strategic tyre tension before the restart, which was marked by theretirement of the race-leading n°8 Toyota. The team then decided to shift itsstrategy with a short stop to favour track position, allowing the Alpine A480to exit the pits in the lead of the Hypercar category. After a subsequentinterruption due to rain, André Negrão succumbed to the attacks of hisfour-wheel drive prototype rival.

Nicolas Lapierretook over from the Brazilian halfway through the race, and after more safetycar periods and red flags, the French driver caught up with his closest rivalbefore taking advantage of a full course yellow to hand over to MatthieuVaxiviere. Slotting in second place, when he got behind the wheel, the crew'syoungest member did his bit to keep the leaders under pressure before going forslick tyres in the final half-hour.

Despite his bestefforts, Matthieu Vaxiviere and the Alpine A480 took the chequered flag insecond place, less than half a minute behind the winners. This second podiumfinish of the season, the eighth in a row in the premier category, allows theA-arrowed brand to maintain its lead in the FIA World Endurance Championshipahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

Nicolas Lapierre

"It was asolid race for the whole team. The rain made it difficult and it was prettyeasy to make mistakes, but we rose to the challenge to claim second place. It'sdifficult to draw clear conclusions about our performance level in thesechanging conditions, but it was important to get to the end with a trouble-freerace to head to Le Mans. We can't wait for June."

André Negrão

"It was along day with three hours in the car. I expected to be outpaced by the Toyotasat the start, but we settled into our pace afterwards. It was my first realexperience of racing in the rain with the A480. Despite this, we got a goodresult that strengthens our position as championship leaders before Le Mans.Like every year, we have a huge challenge ahead of us, but I'm confidentbecause the team is doing such a good job."

Matthieu Vaxiviere

"The outcomeof this race is extremely positive. We put in a solid performance thanks to theperfect job done by the team. There is nothing we can do about the weather, butwe managed to avoid making mistakes in tricky conditions, and our position aschampionshipleaders allowed us to adopt a cautious but effective strategy. I'mconfident for Le Mans, and we'll fight to do the best job possible in the 24Hours."

Philippe Sinault, Alpine Elf Endurance Team Principal

"It was agood race despite its difficulty. After Sebring, this race underscores just howtough the start of the season has been, but we're doing very well bothoperationally and in terms of the results. We have been able to deal with theadjustments to the balance of performance to be in contention, but what I likemost is the calmness and serenity of our squad despite the torrentialconditions. This eighth consecutive podium shows that our car and drivers areextremely reliable. I am very proud of this as we look forward to our secondappearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the premier category. We know that wehave a better grasp of our car compared to last year and this is in line withour ambitions. It's a great source of pride to go to Le Mans in the lead of thechampionship. This edition is shaping up to be a fantastic event that I'mlooking forward to sharing with many people despite the three weeks of intensepreparation that awaits us."

CLASSIFICATIONS

TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing n°7 103 laps

2. Alpine Elf Endurance Team n°36 +27.473s

3. Team WRT n°31 +1:06.185s

4. Realteam Racing by WRT n°41 +1:40.676s

5. JOTA n°38 +1:48.571s

FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar

1. Alpine Elf Endurance Team – 57 points

2. Toyota Gazoo Racing – 52 points

3. Glickenhaus Racing – 39 points

About Alpine

Founded in 1955by Jean Rédélé, the brand has set itself apart with its French-style sportscars. In 2018, the brand presented the new A110, a sports car faithful toAlpine's timeless principles of compactness, lightness, agility and drivingpleasure. The Alpine Business Unit was created in 2021 and thus became thebrand dedicated to innovative, authentic, exclusive sports cars of the RenaultGroup, benefiting from the heritage and craftsmanship of its historic plant inDieppe and the Alpine Racing and Alpine Cars teams engineering mastery.

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