"What an incredible race": Despite two penalties, Esteban Masson and his teammates win

For the champions ELMS As the reigning champion, the competition was set to be quite different as he prepared to defend his title. While Esteban Masson and Oliver Gray remain on board, Charles Milesi has been replaced by Louis Rousset, who will be taking the start this Sunday. There's also been a change in name, as the team is no longer Panis VDS Racing but Forestier Racing by Panis. It was with the Forestier team in LMP3 that Rousset honed his skills before reaching the top tier of the ELMS.

Avoiding the carnage of the first corner, which brought out a red flag, Rousset learned during his first stint, finding his rhythm before moving up the order and handing the car over to the ever-fast Oliver Gray. While the Briton put the reigning champions back at the front by mid-race, two ten-second penalties for illegal overtaking, to be served during a pit stop, seemed to halt the progress of the No. 29 Oreca 07. The numerous safety car periods during the third hour and the beginning of the fourth forced the crew of the No. 29 to wait before being able to serve these penalties under green flag conditions.

Having gone back out with a vengeance, Esteban Masson once again demonstrated his speed to finally win with a 13,3 second lead over the car that started from pole position, the Inter Europol No. 34 of Reshad de Gerus and Bijoy Garg.

"What can I say, what an incredible race! There was a lot of action, it didn't start the way we wanted, but Louis came back at the end of his stint to give the car to Oliver in a good position."exclaimed Masson. "He did a great job, as usual, like last year, he's so fast. We were in trouble with the penalty but I still managed to attack until the end and in the end it's a victory. I'm very happy, it gives us good points to defend our title even though there's still a long season ahead."

Having secured the title at the final round of the 2025 season in Portimão, Olivier Panis's team begins the year in the same position. Can they maintain this position until the end?

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