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CATELIN SHINES IN THE RAIN AND LECERTUA BACK ON TRACK AHEAD OF THE SUMMER BREAK

The Alpine Elf Europa Cup reached the mid-season mark this weekend at the Circuit Dijon-Prenois. Alpine’s return to Côte-d'Or saw Challenger Adrien Catelin (Code Racing Development) score his maiden win in the wet whilst Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie Course Junior) returned to winning ways with two victories in the dry. With his double win, the Belgian driver retakes the lead in the general classification ahead of the next round in Barcelona (14-16 September).

RACE 1: LECERTUAIN FULL COMMAND

Starting from pole for thesecond time this season, Lorens Lecertua held off Romain Favre (VPS Racing) tostay in front at the start, where Tim Mérieux (Autosport GP) came fromeighteenth on the starting grid to tenth place. Despite the pressure from hispursuer, Lorens Lecertua held on to first place, leaving his rival to put on asuperb duel with Alexis Garcin (Chazel Technologie Course Junior) on lap four.

The Belgian took advantage ofthis to increase his lead while Romain Favre regained the upper hand on AlexisGarcin as Léo Jousset looked on in the chase group. Behind them, Louis Maurice(Code Racing Development) and Enzo Geraci (Chazel Technologie Course Junior)joined the battle for the podium by surprising Léo Jousset on lap 12, whenAlexis Garcin retired with a technical issue.

In the final sprint, RomainFavre nibbled away at Lorens Lecertua's advantage, but the leader kept his coolto take his second win of the season. Romain Favre and Enzo Geraci joined himon the podium after Louis Maurice lost many places after trying to overtakeRomain Favre on the penultimate lap. After Léo Jousset's retirement two lapsfrom the chequers, the top five was completed by Willyam Gosselin (VPS Racing)and Tim Mérieux, who made the biggest comeback on Saturday with 13 positionsgained. Thibaut Bossy (Herrero Racing) won the Challengers category, whileAnthony Fournier (Race Cars Consulting) did the same in the Gentlemen class.

RACE 2: WINNINGGAMBLE FOR CATELIN AND CODE RACING DEVELOPMENT

On Sunday, Lorens Lecertua didit again in qualifying, leading a sweep of the top three for Chazel TechnologieCourse Junior in a fine drizzle. Just over two hours later, the Belgian startedahead of teammates Enzo Geraci and Alexis Garcin on a wet track followingseveral showers.

In these challenging conditions,the leaders opted for slicks. Lorens Lecertua kept th the lead at the start,animated by the comeback of several competitors on Michelin rain tyres,including Louis Maurice. Fifth on the grid, Louis Maurice took the lead at theexit of the Pouas curve on lap two before Lorens Lecertua regained the lead ona drier track three laps later.

When the safety car came ontrack after Alain Jacono’s off, it began to rain again. Lorens Lecertua openedup a lead at the restart, whilst Romain Favre and Jules Gougeon quickly gaveway to Louis Maurice, followed and then overtaken by his teammate AdrienCatelin at the head of a field where positions changed at every corner.

In the final stretch, ChallengerAdrien Catelin sealed his first victory in the Alpine Elf Europa Cup. Initiallysecond, Louis Maurice received a five-second penalty for jumping the start. LéoJousset, who started 15th, inherited second place to take victory in theJuniors category ahead of Louis Maurice, who claimed his first podium finish. Remainingon slicks till the end, Lorens Lecertua finished fourth ahead of Jules Gougeon(Chazel Technologie Course Junior), Romain Favre, Margaux Verza (Autosport GP),Alexis Garcin and Enzo Geraci. Tenth despite an incident with Alain Jacono onthe opening lap, Anthony Fournier claimed his second victory in the Gentlemencategory.

RACE 3: LECERTUADOUBLES UP

After the postponement of racetwo at Magny-Cours, a third confrontation took place at Dijon. The secondfastest time of each driver in Q2 held on Sunday morning set the grid, andLorens Lecertua took his third consecutive pole in an incredibly compact fieldwhere the top 14 were covered by less than a second.

At the rolling start, LorensLecertua maintained his advantage while Enzo Geraci and Romain Favre got thebetter of Louis Maurice. Further back, Tim Mérieux surprised Alexis Garcin tomove into the top five on lap three before taking advantage of the Romain Favre- Louis Maurice duel to join the third-place battle. Louis Maurice lost outwith an excursion into the gravel trap on lap eight, shortly before Tim Mérieuxovertook Romain Favre to take his place on the provisional podium.

At the sharp end of the field,Lorens Lecertua gradually extended his lead and took his third win of the yearby nearly four seconds from Enzo Geraci. Third-placed Tim Mérieux claimed apodium on home soil ahead of Romain Favre and Alexis Garcin, who battled allthe way to the finish. Jules Gougeon finished sixth ahead of Sami Dhahri andThibaut Bossy, who won the Challengers race ahead of Adrien Catelin. EthanBernard (Herrero Racing) completed the top ten, while Anthony Fourniercompleted his hat-trick of wins in Dijon with another victory in the Gentlemencategory.

Lorens Lecertua's two victoriesin Burgundy see him leap from fourth to first place in the generalclassification. The Belgian has a ten-point lead over Enzo Geraci and iseighteen points clear of Romain Favre in a trio of Juniors who have pulled awayin the race for the title. Meanwhile, Adrien Catelin still leads theChallengers category, as does Chazel Technologie Course Junior in the Teamscategory, whilst Anthony Fournier takes command of the Gentlemen categorythanks to his three wins over the weekend.

The Alpine Elf Europa Cup nowgoes into its summer break before the return to action at the Circuit deBarcelona-Catalunya (14-16 September), three weeks before the season finale atCircuit Paul Ricard (6-8 October).

QUOTES

Lorens Lecertua(winner of races 1 and 3)

"It's been a long timesince Nogaro! Fortunately, I've put together a string of good results, andconsistency is the most important thing if you want to win this championship.I'm still in the running, and I confirmed that with three poles and two wins.It was a bit difficult at times, both at the start with some of my rivals andat the end with some unexpected tyre degradation, but the overall result ismore than positive!"

AdrienCatelin (winner of race 2)

"It's pretty crazy andmagical to win! I want to thank the Code Racing Development team for theirexcellent strategy of starting on wet tyres. I've always been comfortable inthese conditions, and my years of experience in categories without tractioncontrol helped me a lot. The safety car was a little help as the track startedto dry out before the rain returned, but I managed to do what I liked byfinding grip and having fun on the restart!"

Léo Jousset(winner of the Junior category race 2)

"This first win in the Juniorcategory is the reward for all the hard work we've put in with Race CarsConsulting. We've been performing well since the start of the season, but wehaven't been able to capitalise until now. We weren't expecting it when we were15th on the grid, so it's even more gratifying, even if the heavy downpourduring the safety car period meant that the situation changed, and to chaseafter a podium finish and category victory."

ThibautBossy (winner Challengers category races 1 and 3)

AnthonyFournier (winner of the Gentlemen category races 1, 2 and 3)

"It was a significantweekend with three races, and the aim was to score big points. I did that withthree wins in my category, but it was anything but easy. Saturday was a goodillustration of that, with an excellent pace in Q1 before a temperature problemdeprived me of power at the start. We had to get the temperatures down beforeregaining our pace and positions to salvage this well-deserved victory!"

CLASSIFICATIONS

Race 1

1. Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie Course Junior)

2. Romain Favre (VPS Racing) +1.473s

3. Enzo Geraci (ChazelTechnologie Course Junior) +1.751

4. Willyam Gosselin (VPS Racing)+7.537s

5. Tim Mérieux (Autosport GP) +7.870s

Pole position: Lorens Lecertua (Chazel TechnologieCourse Junior) – 1:23.404s

Fastest lap: Léo Jousset (Race Cars Consulting) – 1:24.939q

Race 2

1. Adrien Catelin (Code Racing Development)

2. Léo Jousset (Race Cars Consulting) +4.458s

3. Louis Maurice (Code Racing Development) +5.408s

4. Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie Course Junior)+12.644s

5. Jules Gougeon (Chazel Technologie Course Junior) +12.804s

Pole position : Lorens Lecertua (Chazel TechnologieCourse Junior) – 1:23.421s

Fastest lap: Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie CourseJunior) – 1:31.941s

Race 3

1. Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie Course Junior)

2. Enzo Geraci (Chazel Technologie Course Junior) +3.705s

3. Tim Mérieux (Autosport GP) +8.587s

4. Romain Favre (VPS Racing) +14.987s

5. Alexis Garcin (Chazel Technologie Course Junior) +15.272s

Pole position : Lorens Lecertua (Chazel TechnologieCourse Junior) – 1:23.587s

Fastest lap: Lorens Lecertua (Chazel Technologie CourseJunior) – 1:24.828s

General classification

1. Lorens Lecertua – 112 points

2. Enzo Geraci – 102 points

3. Romain Favre – 94 points

4. Alexis Garcin – 71 points

5. Tim Mérieux – 66 points

ABOUT ALPINE

Founded in 1955 by Jean Rédélé, the brand has setitself apart with its French-style sports cars. In 2018, the brand presentedthe new A110, a sports car faithful to Alpine's timeless principles ofcompactness, lightness, agility and driving pleasure. The Alpine Business Unitwas created in 2021 and thus became the brand dedicated to innovative,authentic, exclusive sportscars of the Renault Group, benefiting from theheritage and craftsmanship of its historic plant in Dieppe and the AlpineRacing and Alpine Cars teams engineering mastery.

PRESS CONTACTS

Orianne TAMBURINI

Head of product communication Alpine

orianne.tamburini@alpinecars.com

+33(0)6 26 63 28 14

IndiaDE LA FRESSANGE

Press Officer Motorsport

india.deseignarddelafressange@fr.alpineracing.com

+33 (0)6 34 48 51 31

www.alpinecars.com

media.alpinecars.com/?lang=eng

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