-The N°36 Signatech-Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre/Gustavo Menezes/Stéphane Richelmi came close to securing an LMP2 podium at the 2016 6 Hours of Silverstone.
– The consistency of David Cheng/Nelson Panciatici/Ho-Pin Tung in the N°35 Alpine A460 (Baxi DC Racing Alpine) bagged seventh place at the flag.
– The Signatech-Alpine turns its attention now to the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (May 5-7), round two of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Signatech-Alpine travelled to the opening round of the 2016 FIA WEC campaign at Silverstone eager to show its ambition in this season’s world championship with its two Alpine A460 prototypes. Following two productive free practice sessions on Friday, the third – planned for Saturday morning – was cancelled due, astonishingly, to snowfall!
Qualifying subsequently took place in tricky, mixed conditions and the N°36 and N°35 A460s collected seventh and tenth places respectively in the LMP2 order after failing to make the most of their rain tyres.
Despite their cautious approach, Nelson Panciatici and Gustavo Menezes began the race intent on working their way up the order and they duly climbed the LMP2 leaderboard during their opening stints. The former later relinquished the reins to Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng, while the latter handed over to Nicolas Lapierre and Stéphane Richelmi.
Just before the three-hour mark, a puncture for the N°35 car prior to a neutralisation period prevented it from staying on the same lap as the leader and, as a result, from challenging for a top finish.
The two Alpine A460s also suffered from significant tyre wear during their second stints on the same tyres but they took advantage of the way the race unfolded to move up the order.
At the wheel of the N°36 A460, Nicolas Lapierre worked his way into a podium position during the final hour of the race. However, an LMP1 car forced him to run wide through Turn 1 and he fell back to fourth. Shortly afterwards, a puncture dashed any remaining hopes he may have nurtured of recovering lost ground.
Fourth place nonetheless marked the team’s best result at Silverstone since Alpine’s return to endurance competition. Panciatici brought the sister N°35 A460 to the finish in seventh position following a consistent effort.
Bernard Ollivier (Deputy Managing Director, Alpine): “The overall result is encouraging and both cars scored good points. That was no foregone conclusion, given that the A460 is a new car this year, that we are running two cars for the first time in the WEC and that we didn’t know how the tyres would perform in race conditions. The weather complicated our preparations, too, and notably cost us time during qualifying. The result will further motivate us to work flat-out to take the fight to an even higher level. We certainly have a battle on our hands if we want to run at the sharp end in every race.”
Philippe Sinault (Team Principal, Signatech-Alpine): “The 2016 world championship is clearly very competitive and it is already evident that it will be a fiercely-contested season. During pre-season testing, we only ran in the dry, so we lacked a little experience with the car in the tricky conditions we faced this weekend. We consequently didn’t qualify in the sort of position we could have targeted in the wet conditions. We initially adopted a conservative strategy in the race but, as it progressed we pushed a little harder and came close to finishing on the podium. The team and all six drivers were flawless and everybody did exactly what we asked of them, so it was quite encouraging.”
Nelson Panciatici: “It was a good race and we were able to show our pace. It was a bit of a journey into the unknown with regard to the tyres. We were in the mix for a podium finish until a puncture just before a neutralisation period dropped us a lap compared with LMP2 class leader. It was good to see that our raw speed is there; we just need to focus a bit more on tyre management. There is an excellent environment within the team, which is a very good omen.”
David Cheng: “Ho-Pin and Nelson were fantastic team-mates and I am very proud of our performance at Silverstone. We went well all weekend. The weather made qualifying difficult. During my first stint in the race, I felt a few vibrations because I wasn’t used to these tyres, but now we know what we need to work on. My second stint went better, but we were a bit unlucky with the puncture and the timing of the neutralisation period. For our first time out, we certainly didn’t disgrace ourselves and it was an encouraging start to what will be a long season as we endeavour to move up the order. Every single point will count and our ultimate objective remains the LMP2 title.”
Ho-Pin Tung: “I am quite happy, because we reached the end of the race without any major problems. We were unfortunate with the puncture at the end of my second stint. It meant the final result did not match our expectations but this is going to be a long season and we will come back even stronger next time. I did my best to manage the tyres in the race, my stints were strong and we made good progress during the race.”
Nicolas Lapierre: “The car was quick, but it could not maintain that level of pace for long because we encountered a lot of tyre degradation, particularly during the second stints. We will analyse that and get it right for Spa next month. The weather conditions also provided a unique challenge, and certainly didn’t make life easy for the two rookies in the car with me. Hopefully we will have better weather at Spa and a more straightforward weekend.”
Stéphane Richelmi: “I’m reasonably pleased with this result, but it is clear that we still have a lot of work to do. I was eager to race because the cancellation of FP3 on Saturday morning and Nicolas and Gustavo qualifying the N°36 car meant I hadn’t been on-track since Friday. I completed a double stint on the same set of tyres, but we suffered a high rate of degradation. I was also a bit unlucky when I was passed by two backmarkers as the safety car appeared. Overall, I was happy with my tyre management; indeed, I might even have been a bit too cautious. We are disappointed with the end result because we had the podium in our sights, but that will only serve to motivate us even more.”
Gustavo Menezes: “It was an interesting weekend held in difficult conditions, but I was pleased with my pace and performance in this first event. We had a few issues in qualifying which meant I had to start the race down in seventh position and that wasn’t easy. We weren’t quite sure how to approach the tyre management but we did the best we could. We are obviously eager to fight for victory. We know we can count upon an excellent team and a very strong car with a lot of potential. Finishing fourth is a promising start. It gives us a solid haul of points and a good dose of motivation.”
LMP2 Classification – 6 Hours of Silverstone
1. RGR Sport by Morand / N°43, 179 laps
2. Extreme Speed Motorsports / N°31, +32.0s
3. G-Drive Racing / N°26, +41.9s
4. Signatech-Alpine / N°36, +1 lap
5. Strakka Racing / N°42, +2 laps
6. Manor / N°45, +2 laps
7. Baxi DC Racing Alpine / N°35, +3 laps
8. SMP Racing / N°37, +3 laps
9. Extreme Speed Motorsports / N°30, +4 laps
10. SMP Racing / N°27, +8 laps
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