ELMS – Thiriet and Beche united for the best

First race of the season with Pierre Thiriet and first victory for Mathias Beche who celebrated success at the 3 Hours of Imola with Thiriet by TDS Racing. Starting from the first row of the grid in front of the #18 Murphy Prototypes driven by Brendon Hartley, Mathias Beche fought a duel against the other Oreca 03-Nissan while remaining in contact with the Zytek Z11SN-Nissan of Jota Sport from Turvey-Dolan which was going to encounter problems during the event forcing it to abandon. The French team took the advantage by making better pit stops. “Brendon Hartley was very intelligent at the start and I preferred not to take any risks”, commented Jonathan Hirschi’s replacement. “I was fast during my stint, but I couldn't overtake. The team performed well in the pits and we were able to take control to win. Then, I tried to widen the gap: here, the traffic is difficult and you have to be aggressive, that's what we did. Winning my return to the team is really very special. I am very proud of Pierre, who was excellent today and who really took a step forward. »

The driver of the eponymous team could only be delighted to win the 3 Hours of Imola alongside the Swiss with whom he won the Championship last year. This victory allows it to lead the Drivers' ranking with ten points ahead of its closest pursuers, while Thiriet by TDS Racing took the lead in the Teams' rankings with 10 points more than Race Performance and Signatech-Alpine. “It's really nice to win again with Mathias. To be honest, we didn't necessarily expect to be in the lead so quickly. Mathias was very good, as usual. For my part, I am satisfied with my relays and in particular with having managed to regain first place. Then, above all, I tried not to make any mistakes, which was not necessarily easy in traffic. The car was well balanced, but perhaps a little more physical. I'm very happy to get the victory for Mathias' return. With a double program this weekend, it was complicated but we managed it. »