Alpine achieved a very satisfying first podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship with the new A424 at the end of a 6 Hours of Fuji that is not for the faint-hearted among the fans of the French team.
After the very good progress shown in Austin, a very solid third place was achieved, which however seemed to have vanished until 10 minutes from the end. Already at the start the LMDh managed by Team Signatech were involved in the pile-up triggered at turn 1 by Robert Kubica’s mistake, losing a lot of ground, but along the way they proved to be quite fast and capable of climbing back up.
The best placed in the final moments was the #35 of Milesi/Habsburg/Gounon, which however found itself punished for an accident that we will talk about later; this therefore put the #36 of Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere in a position to aim for the podium, which also incurred a penalty to serve for not respecting the yellow flags in the third hour.
Schumacher took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car/SC of the last two hours to catch up with those ahead of him and also taking advantage of the errors and penalties incurred by his rivals, with 10 minutes to go he found himself behind the #12 Porsche-Jota, managing to overtake it and take third place.
#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher, Matthieu Vaxiviere, #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, Norman Nato
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
“This time it was really tough, I think we started with the worst car we’ve had this year. We struggled a lot with the car and we weren’t confident at all. The #35 seemed to be a bit better, while we, for some reason, struggled a bit more. And you could see it in the pace compared to the #35. So we still have a lot of homework to do, some research to understand if, on our side, there is something different”, admitted Mick, who then let himself go in celebration as it was 2020 (the year he was racing in FIA F2) that he had not set foot on the podium.
“That said, we can be very happy with our result. The #35 was also in contention for the win, which is crazy considering it’s only our first year here. We had some very close battles and I’m gaining more confidence in how to fight in the WEC. I didn’t expect it to be so difficult, but the cars are quite robust and it feels like we’re back in the old days of karting. It was a lot of fun!”
“The team made great strategic choices throughout the race and we showed our potential. We had two new tyres on the left side, so I knew I had a tyre advantage, it was just a matter of time before I got to the right point. I have to say that at the end I was a bit afraid of the #93 Peugeot, which had a good pace in the last stint with four new tyres, but we managed everything well. The team did a great job and I think we can be very satisfied.”
“It’s been a while since I was on the podium, I was also a bit disoriented and didn’t know what to do anymore! The smell of champagne is not the best, but I really missed it! I’m really happy, it’s a positive result for the team and for everyone involved in the project. We deserved this podium after fighting so hard even when everything was against us. Fortunately today it wasn’t like that, we’re going in the right direction and we want more. We’re all here to win, so we’ll keep giving our all”.
Podium: Third place #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher, Matthieu Vaxiviere
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
Lapierre added: “We are improving race by race and we confirmed that today. We are gradually getting closer to the pace of the top teams and in the last three races we have had extraordinary reliability. The team has done a good job, with careful strategic decisions and well-timed stops. Even if we still have a lot of work to do for the future, there are many positive points.”
Vaxiviere also smiles: “I am satisfied with our result and all the credit goes to the team after more than a year of development and hard work behind the scenes. We continue to improve with every race and to get the first podium in our debut season is a remarkable achievement. It will only strengthen our motivation to aim even higher in the future.”
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
As we were saying before, there are however many regrets on the other side of the box because in reality the best placed Alpine until a few hours from the end was the #35 of Milesi/Habsburg/Gounon, in the Top5 for a long time and with a smell of the podium until Milesi was the protagonist of a rear-end collision with the #81 Corvette during a complicated overtaking phase.
With the TF Sport Z06 spinning, the Drive Through was inevitable and the A424 found itself sadly in the middle of the pack, with the Frenchman doing his best to at least regain seventh place at the finish line.
“Unfortunately it was my fault, but I couldn’t do anything because the Corvette kept zigzagging left-right and I didn’t understand where it was going, so I tried to turn around the outside. Unfortunately it moved at the last moment and I hit it; in the end it’s my fault and we have to accept the penalty, even if it’s a bit hard to digest for what happened because this mistake cost us the podium”, says Milesi, who was also +0″3 from the winning Porsche in terms of average lap time, also achieving the fastest lap of the race in the HYPERCAR Class.
“We had a good pace right from the start of the weekend. We managed to get back into the leading group with a really strong car, even better than the one in Austin. The #36 finished on the podium, which is positive for everyone in the team and gives us even more confidence. Hopefully we can get a podium too, there is one race left and we need to keep working to find further improvements for the future.”
#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
Team Principal Philippe Sinault commented: “This project has seen good growth in recent races and this podium confirms that. From the first laps at Fuji we were in contention and the six hours of racing were very close, with a constant battle between excellent drivers representing all the manufacturers present.”
“We were not spared at the start, falling victim to a collision, but our pace kept us focused and motivated. Thanks to the talent of our drivers, the potential of the car and the hard work of the team, we managed to get this great result, which rewards the commitment of every member of the team, including Paul-Loup who was at home!”
Bruno Famin, Alpine Motorsports Vice President, said: “The 6 Hours of Fuji highlights the encouraging progress made by the team. From the start of the project, we approached this year as a learning season, which is starting to bear fruit after the first seven races.”
“However, not everything is perfect yet. We made a step forward by fighting for the first time in the final part, but there is still a lot of work to do and steps to take. Our goal is to continue learning and extracting our potential in all areas in the coming months.”
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