CD Sport winner of a race full of twists and turns

An event made all the more trying due to the temperatures, which continued to flirt with 30° throughout the afternoon. So obviously the organisms suffered? just like cars.

In addition to varying handicaps inflicted on each crew, the pilots had to deal with the heat, the cause of a certain number of technical problems? Trios have nevertheless managed to progress in the hierarchy. Starting 10th on the grid, Marc-Antoine Dannielou, Nicolas Maulini and Jacques Wolff, were thus able to inherit the orders around midnight to achieve their 2nd victory of the year? the first dated from Mugello. The CD Sport crew (Norma M 20 n°33) was one of the first to observe all its penalties? 16 in total. After 12 hours of racing, they are “only” 1 ahead of the first Norma from Palmyr, the No. 48 shared by Philippe Mondolot, David Zollinger and Christian Vaglio-Giors. The No. 375 of Marc Faggionato, Natacha Gachnang and Jens Petersen took 40rd place on the podium.

“We didn't have any problems apart from this belt being loosely attached at one point, which is why we had to go back through the boxes,” confided the Swiss Nicolas Maulini. We were a little disappointed with our pace at the end of practice because we were aiming for a better place on the grid. But what does it matter in a 12-hour race, qualifying position doesn't mean much [?] Our start to the race was pretty decent. We tried to ride cleanly. And when there is no problem on the mechanical and driver side, there is no reason why it should not come to an end. Our competitors have had a lot of breakages but that’s also part of the game.” Reliability… this was one of the keys to success this weekend.

The DB Autosport teams (Norma M 20 n°21 of Bassora / Monclair / Delafosse) and Extreme Limite (Tatuus PY012 n°19 of Patrice and Léo Roussel / De Fournioux) complete the top 5.

12 Hours V of V Endurance Proto: sizes eliminated one by one

However, the outcome of the race was undecided for a long time? Many contenders for victory were eliminated over the hours, starting with the No. 53 Ligier JS 91 Evo of Gauvin / Pasian / Findlay (Graff), qualified in 2nd position; the latter encountered front axle problems from the first laps. Other crews also had bad luck during these 12 hours of Paul Ricard and not the least! The Ligier JS 53 Evo 2 n°29 of Trouillet / Perroy / Clairay (Graff) had to return to the box at around 18 p.m. following overheating. She was then at the top of the ranking? The No. 20 Norma M 32 of Taittinger / Jamin / Jules (CD Sport), which was in the fight for the podium, also ended up throwing in the towel, notably due to a recalcitrant water pump. The Ultimate team (Lahaye / Heriau / Nicolet) ranks penultimate? 70% of the total distance having been covered by this crew. The rear wing of the No. 53 Ligier JS 2 Evo 35, which had hit the gearbox, could not be repaired 3h30 from the finish. TFT polemen Ander Vilarino, Philippe Illiano, Alain Ferte bring up the rear; the gearbox of their No. 20 Norma M8 found itself stuck in 6th gear after dark.

Championship relaunched

But even more unexpected: none of the top three in the championship scored big points since the No. 53 IDEC Sport Racing Ligier JS 2 Evo 17 (Paul and Patrice Lafargue / Enjalabert) was brought back to the box on the set around 17 p.m. ?in the end they will finish 16th. And the Norma M 20 n°30 of the leaders Accary / Bole Besancon / Foubert was the victim of a fire at 21 p.m., giving rise to the 2nd safety car of the event. Suffice to say, we are now witnessing a real regrouping at the top of the general standings.