Hungaroring: Strakka creates a surprise

With a reduced LMP1 field and increasingly reliable LMP2s, an LMP2 victory became possible. Especially on the Hungaroring, a circuit which is not renowned for its straight lines but for its incessant turns, giving little advantage to the power of an LMP1.

If the HPD ARX-01c took advantage of its lightness to slip through the Hungarian turnstile, it is not the only one to have done well. In addition to the victory of the car developed by Honda, five LMP2s also infiltrated the first places, relegating the first LMP1, the Ginetta Zytek of Beechdean Mansell, to seventh place!

Strakka Racing, thanks to Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and particularly Danny Watts, was able to secure its second category victory of the season, after two retirements, but stood out above all by climbing onto the first step of the podium in the general classification, something new for an LMP2 in Le Mans Series.

In addition to the success of Strakka Racing, the disappointment is great in the Oreca camp, which hoped to glean a second victory in a row, after Portimao. But the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP from the Var team suffered from a transmission problem. “ We did not imagine having a reliability problem, explains Hugues de Chaunac, boss of the team. Stéphane's (Sarrazin) takeoff was very good and we then took our pace. This allowed us to have a solid lead at the halfway mark. After analyzing the problem, we repaired it in order to reach the finish line and score valuable points. Stéphane is in charge for the Drivers, Team Oreca-Matmut for the Teams. »

Find the full report of the 1000 km of the Hungaroring this week in your AUTOhebdo magazine.