We knew that the IDEC SPORT Porsche 991 Cup was a good performer and that the team was solid, but they confirmed their status as a major challenger for the 2018 title in the 991 Cup by winning in their class at the Silverstone 12-Hour Race. The Mercedes AMG GT3 was not able to complete the race, but she too had been performing well.
IDEC SPORT was back racing on 9th and 10th March at the Silverstone 12-Hour Race, which opened the 2018 championship for the 24-Hour Series. The team had taken the decision to race with two cars in 2017: the Mercedes AMG GT3 for Patrice Lafargue, Paul Lafargue and Dimitri Enjalbert, and the Porsche 991 Cup for David Abramczyk, Stéphane Adler, Michael Blanchemain and Romain Vozniak.
A look at how things went at Silverstone
After a cautious qualifier in complicated conditions, the cars were well adjusted for the race, when Paul Lafargue and Stéphane Adler set off respectively on the sixth and eleventh rank.
After an hour of racing, Paul Lafargue kept up the speed taking the car to third place overall and first in the GT cars. As for #75 she too performed well. The Porsche was in first place in the 991 Cup rankings.
Drivers changed over and IDEC SPORT continued to perform well, confirming their intentions for 2018. Unfortunately, with an hour to go to the break, #17 was caught out by the weather conditions and was unable to set off again.
At 6 p.m. the 991 Cup pulled over like the other cars, in thirteenth place overall and first in her category. The cars were put into the paddock with the teams unable to touch them until Saturday morning just before the start, just to clean them and warm up the engine.
The second part of the race was equally tricky, but the four IDEC SPORT drivers remained focused and were consistent. After twelve hours of hard work the crew of #75 crossed the finish line in first place in the 991 Cup category (fourteenth overall),more than five laps ahead of their nearest rivals.
“For us, the hardest thing was dealing with the rain, which was on and off, as we kept wondering which tyres to fit and whether we should expect rain in the next 15-20 minutes. It gave us a few scares, but we didn’t come off too badly,” analysed Romain Vozniak. “It had been for months since we last drove. None of us knew the track, so we weren’t in ideal conditions where we could have hoped to get such a result, but we’re really pleased to be able to show what we can do against the other teams.”
“We turned up hoping to win after coming second in the championship last year, but we remained humble, as we just lost out on a few occasions last time. We’ll be trying to compete in all the races in the championship to maximise our chances of getting the title. Between now and Navarra, we’ll all be working together to try to have another great weekend like this one,” explained Romain Vozniak, who was given a boost by the success in Britain.
Not to be missed
The second event in the 24-Hour Series will take place on 20th and 21st April with the Navarra 12-Hour Race (Spain). Before that, do not miss the first race in 2018 for IDEC SPORT in the ELMS on the Castellet circuit with the prologue on 10th April and the opening race of the championship, the Castellet 4-Hour Race on 15th April.
