Sixth at Interlagos, Loïc Duval could have done nothing against the BMW n°20

The former world championEndurance returned to our microphone on the fifth round of the season, which saw the Peugeot 9X8 evolve at a much higher level than at 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the lionesses did not have any impact on the race. Overtaken at the very end of the race by the BMW n°20, Duval has no regrets after a "perfect" race from an operational point of view.

Loïc Duval (Peugeot n°94, sixth): “We had a pretty solid weekend with both cars in the points, sixth and seventh, so that’s pretty good for the team. Now, we would have hoped to do a little bit better. I think we had a one-lap performance that wasn’t too bad. We suffered a little bit of degradation in this second sector, especially in the second stint. Our first stints were pretty good, but in the second stint with the tires, it’s a little bit more complicated. So, we suffered quite early in the race, which made us come in earlier than planned for the pitstop, which put us in a little bit more difficult conditions because it meant that our last stint was a full stint while the others had a little bit shorter stints. 

But I think we managed to optimize what we had, it was in my opinion the best possible result because even there, with the BMW passing us at the end, they still had a drive-through so they had a little more performance. So happy with the result and the operational side. Not very happy yet with the performance, they still have a little bit and there you go, we want to play a little more up front.

I was really bothered by a BMW GT coming out of the first corner, which stopped me well. So I had no more momentum on the way back to turn 4. And then the BMW overtook me and they had more performance. I think if we were in fresh air, if we didn't have traffic, I could have kept them behind. On the other hand, in traffic we suffered a little bit with the acceleration, the corner exits, we had a little more difficulty with the rear axle. So there you go, that's the game. We accept this sixth and seventh place and we hope we can do better next time."

Interview by Valentin Glo in Interlagos (Brazil)

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