CD Sport “from hell to paradise” in Nogaro

“At the end of the tunnel there is light.” Laurent Cazenave sums up CD Sport's Gers weekend in one sentence. “We had everything I think, we really went from hell to heaven. » A situation symbolized by Fabien Lavergne. During the first part, we saw more of the pilot and the Mercedes-AMG GT4 in the garage than on the track.

The black series began in race 1. “We had an electrical problem which led to a radio problem and the car went into pit stop mode… It was a cascade of problems. In race 2 we experienced a collision which caused a puncture. »

The No. 2 car of Fabien Lavergne and Edouard Cauhaupé continued its race to score points. Regardless, the race was ruined. Nobody heard of CD Sport.

Until race 3. Here again, the start looked anonymous due to a thirteenth place on the starting grid. But the wheel has decided to turn.

Fabien Lavergne, who discovered the car on Friday, made a fantastic comeback to find himself in fourth place overall when he handed over his baton. “ It’s simple, he put 7 to 8 tenths behind everyone, we missed the lap record by two hundredths” smiles Laurent Casenave.

CD Sport therefore took the gamble of achieving the undercut and returning as soon as the refueling window opened. “ it was decided on the straight of the old pits, at the last moment” says the team boss. “The engineer wanted to allow Edouard Cauhaupé to do two hot laps without traffic to get in front of everyone, since the gaps were very tight. »

The risky maneuver was almost completely successful. After all the stops, the CD Sport Mercedes found itself second in Silver.  “A little more and we could have found ourselves in front of the BMW.” And the race would have changed, given that on the track the Espace Bienvenue car was almost impossible to overtake. "I think we would have finished with theAston Martin in the lead overall. »

Second remains a superb end to the weekend. “ We showed that if we find the right settings, we are on par with the other Silvers. I have high hopes for Magny-Cours, the circuit suits the Mercedes well. We will have to find the right tire operation and the right set-up but if we succeed, our two drivers will be difficult to beat. »

In Pro-Am, Clément Bully and Jean-Ludovic Foubert also got off to a bad start. A big outing at the start of the weekend compromised the races. “I promise you we’ll see them up front. »

See you in Magny-Cours from September 11 to 13.