Alpine sees himself fighting for victory

Signatech-Alpine would have liked to end the Test Day of the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the best time of the LMP2, but the red flag following the exit of the track of Ozz Negri Jr in the Ligier JS P2 no. 49 of Michael Shank Racing forced the French team to settle for the second time signed by Nicolas lapierre on the A460 n°36 which he shares with Gustavo Menezes and Stéphane Richelmi.

“Our main objective of the day was to allow Stéphane and Gustavo to complete as many kilometers as possible”, explains the former pilot Toyota. “Everything went well, the car seems to be performing well and we were able to test the different tires and different set-up variations. But it should be borne in mind that the track conditions were special due to recent bad weather. »

“Even if our Alpine A460 were unable to attempt to achieve the best time at the end of the day, we can be satisfied with the level of performance displayed,” comments Bernard Ollivier, the deputy general director ofAlpine. “The Signatech-Alpine No. 36 proved that it was among the favorites for victory in the LMP2 category. Freed from its lack of success, the Baxi DC Racing Alpine No. 35 also demonstrated that she could play leading roles. »

“On the track, we weren't particularly looking for pure performance, but it came quite naturally. Our fastest lap is particularly satisfying, as it was achieved with plenty of fuel and on Nicolas' first set of new tires.", adds Philippe Sinault, Team Principal of Signatech-Alpine.

The No. 35 sister car of Nelson Panciatici, David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung placed ninth in the category. Both Alpine A460s covered a total of more than 2000 km during the Test Day.

Discover the analysis of the Test Day of the 84th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2066 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms, and on newsstands from Wednesday.