There is great satisfaction at home for Isotta Fraschini, despite the 6h of San Paolo having concluded just under two hours from the end of this fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
For the first time, the Tipo 6-C was able to compete with its rivals without having to carry any ballast on board, as had happened since its debut in the HYPERCAR class, trying to adapt as best as possible to a track that no one had ever seen before.
At Interlagos, the trio formed by Jean-Karl Vernay, Carl Bennett and Antonio Serravalle began working in preparation for the race together with the technicians from Duqueine and Michelotto Engineering right from Free Practice, but the real surprise came in Qualifying.
As always, the wheel of the LMH #11 was assigned to the expert Vernay, who for the first time finished the timed session with the shortest gap ever from the top; 1″600 which equates to 0″371 lost per km, as the Milanese brand was keen to point out, but also 1″1 from the possibility of accessing the next Hyperpole heat, remaining close to Peugeot and Lamborghini.
In the race the aim was, as always, to try to make further progress and already at the start Vernay took advantage of an excellent opportunity to gain positions until reaching 14th place, holding out for several laps before giving way to rival cars, also due to a 5” Stop&Go for having exceeded the maximum power allowed with the ERS (for which a reprimand had already arrived previously).
After 82 laps, the Frenchman handed over the wheel to Bennett for the middle part of the race, but on the 67th lap completed by the American, a sensor failed causing an electrical problem that stopped the Tipo 6-C’s engine.
Upon returning to the pits, the engineers preferred to stop to investigate further and therefore Serravalle was unable to complete his final driving stint, with less than two hours of racing remaining on the clock.
Despite the retirement, as we were saying, the satisfaction is quite high because the average lap times saw Vernay close in 1’29″342, against the 1’27″419 reference obtained by Kamui Kobayashi on the Toyota, also finishing ahead of a couple of rivals such as Peugeot and Alpine.
#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Type6-C: Antonio Serravalle, Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“I think it was a very positive weekend, we have never shown such good pace in qualifying before,” underlines Vernay.
“I had said in the previous days that the speed in the race should be better and, here in Interlagos, that was actually the case. So I think that was very encouraging.”
“We were in the middle of the pack and quicker than a lot of cars, so that’s really positive for the future and that’s what we have to remember from this weekend in Sao Paulo.”
Bennett added: “We made further progress and the pace was very close to the midfield cars throughout the race.”
“Unfortunately, a sensor malfunction caused problems, so we were forced to retire. I’m looking forward to going racing at COTA in September.”
#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Type6-C: Antonio Serravalle, Carl Wattana Bennett, Jean-Karl Vernay
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
For Isotta Fraschini, a summer is now opening that, as we said in the past few days, will be quite hot. There will be a month and a half before flying to Austin for the Lone Star Le Mans and these weeks will be used to define several issues, also with a view to the future.
The Duqueine team will have to work hard to complete the year by making further progress, also because a continuation in 2025 will require double the effort and throwing away all the good work done up to now – with the relative means available – would be criminal.
“We are extremely happy to see the gap between our Tipo 6 and the best Hypercars closing,” said Miguel Valldecabres, CEO and Head of Motorsport at Isotta Fraschini. “We are closing the gap race after race, although we are facing many technical constraints and timing issues, so we have not had the time to do as many tests as we would have liked.”
“The fact that we are getting closer, learning along the way, makes us very happy and we look forward to a promising future!”
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