Bourdais: A long-undecided victory

The start of the race was eventful at Silverstone. Starting on pole, Sébastien Bourdais was overtaken by Allan McNish (Audi no. 2) in the first laps while Franck Montagny went off the track with the 908 no. 8 after contact with a backmarker in Copse and lost several laps to the leaders.

The R18 at the head of the event was also trapped by the cars on the track, leaving the duel for victory between the No. 18 R1 of Marcel Fässler and Timo Bernhard and the No. 908 8 of Bourdais-Pagenaud. The French crew finally won when Timo Bernhard damaged his car, forcing him to return to the pits.

Sébastien Bourdais had a difficult start to the race, in a fight between him and Allan McNish among the competitors. “It was a start to the race that was closer to a sprint than an endurance race,” analyzes Sébastien Bourdais. “There was oil on the track at the start, it was quite tricky and I was almost relieved when McNisch passed me! He slowed down and I took advantage of it. After the safety car, I confronted Timo Bernhard. We attacked each other several times depending on traffic. It was a relay with lots of action! »

The Frenchman insists on the intensity of the competition, where the outcome of the 6 hours of racing remained uncertain for a long time. “This is the second victory this season for me, after the success at Imola. We had a good race, but it was difficult and very competitive. We had to go find her! We did not make the slightest mistake, where our opponents made a mistake. It?s a team victory because we all work together. I attacked when it was necessary to do so and Simon did his part of the job perfectly. »

Find the report of the 6 Hours of Silverstone by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, on sale from Wednesday.