1812km from Qatar – Paul-Loup Chatin (Alpine): "We were not able to perform as we would have liked"

A first race to forget for Alpine in 2025. The arrowed A leaves Losail with a zero point, with its two cars ranked outside the Top 10 at the finish of the 1812km of Qatar. The two French Hypercars, which nevertheless had an interesting pace in the middle of the pack, each encountered various misadventures which relegated them in the ranking, like the n°35 of Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin.

Qualified in 9th position during the Hyperpole the day before, the A424 n°35 found itself in fourth position at the end of the first lap thanks to a great start by Ferdinand Habsburg. The Austrian even found himself third after the first Full Course Yellow, overtaking a Kevin Magnussen idling, stuck with the limiter of his BMW. Alas, that's when things started to go wrong for theAlpine #35: Just a few minutes after his first pit stop, Ferdinand Habsburg had to make a second stop due to a puncture following contact with a GT. The beginning of the problems for the #35…

"It was going very well with Ferdi [Habsburg], he was even 3rd, unfortunately there was contact with a GT which damaged the car and after that, we had a puncture which hurt us straight away, explained Paul-Loup Chatin after the arrival. We were lucky with the Full Course Yellow to make the right choices and get back into the game when Charles [Milesi] got in the car… but unfortunately, there was another contact with a GT, which damaged the car again and made us lose a lot of time. In the end, we found ourselves one lap down. Once you are one lap down, barring any racing incidents, the race is over. We showed some good things, the start was very positive, the stints were solid. We have to concentrate on that.”

That was a CLOSE one for Alpine ????

Charles Milesi saw a gap and he took it…

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« This is not the first race of the year that we were hoping for"

Finally, after spending most of the race a lap down, theAlpine No. 35 finished in an anonymous 13th place. A result far from the hopes placed on the A424 in Qatar. "It's a mixed feeling. We don't come here to finish 13th and 14th, recognizes Paul-Loup Chatin. It's not the first race of the year that we were hoping for. There are still some positives to take away, there's real work that's been done, after that it's the race. Sometimes it goes in our favor, sometimes not. We got hit once or twice during the race, which damaged the car a bit. After that, we weren't able to perform as we would have liked. The others were very strong, they made fewer mistakes.

"We will analyse and come back stronger at Imola, but there are positives to take away like the understanding of the tyres and the exploitation [of the car] which was very good, specifies the Francilien. After that, we know that we are at a very high level and that we have to have a faultless race, especially when the competition is very strong as it was, and that is not what we did today. But we remain very focused and it will start again in the right direction at Imola.

Eyes on the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Chatin

If the start of the season is not as good as expected on the side ofAlpine, the tricolor clan recalls that the main objective is to be efficient in the long term and above all, to be there during the 24H of Le Mans, on June 14. At the end of these two weeks spent on the Losail circuit, Paul-Loup Chatin wants to quickly turn the page on this difficult race for the A arrow and focus on the good sides of this Qatari journey.

"All the manufacturers who are here have a real objective, which is the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That's what we are focusing on at the moment, even if we hope to fight at the front in every race, says the pilot Alpine. That's why I really want to come away with the positive points, especially on the exploitation during these ten days. We reviewed a very important number of tests which, I am sure, will be useful throughout the season and especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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