It was a weekend of ups and downs for the IDEC Sport Racing team during the second event in the European Le Mans Series in Imola. While the Ligier confirmed its potential on the Italian circuit, during the third relay they were unable to achieve a good result after coming off the track. Dimitri Enjalbert, Patrice and Paul Lafargue will have certainly learnt a lot from this experience.
A month after an encouraging start in the European Le Mans Series in Le Mans (7th place), IDEC Sport Racing took part in the second event of the season this weekend at the prestigious Imola circuit. Dimitri Enjalbert, Patrice and Paul Lafargue wanted to continue to learn how to handle their Ligier Judd n°28, and they got what they hoped for with an exciting weekend with lots of ups and downs.
Thirteenth in the qualifiers art the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the three IDEC drivers got off to an ideal start in the 4 Hr race, with a good start by Dimitri Enjalbert, which enabled them to move up three places. During the relay, he gained another place, but ended feeling weaker. After that, Patrice Lafargue managed to keep up a steady pace before handing othe wheel over to his son, Paul. Unfortunately, the latter was a little over-confident, as he later admitted and came off the track, which proved fatal as the Ligier couldn’t get back on the track leaving everyone in the team feeling very frustrated.
Even though the result wasn’t what they had hoped for, the weekend in Italy was satisfactory IDEC Sport Racing, which is just discovering the European Le Mans Series this season. “It was a weekend full of surprises. We all made a few little mistakes, but that is what it takes,” commented Patrice Lafargue. “That’s why I said this year is one where we have a lot to learn. When things go wrong, you learn a lot, so I’m happy enough with this race, which will allow us to continue to progress. It’s a sort of training and the experience is useful, and by the end of the year, I’m sure we’ll be up to standard. We’re going to go for it anyway. The most important thing is that we’re all keen and we don’t like failing, so we’ll get there.”
The next event in the ELMS is due to take place from 15th to 17th July with the 4 Hr race on the Red Bull Ring in Austria, but before that, IDEC Sport Racing will be travelling around with a third weekend of racing in a row on the 20th, 21st and 22nd May on the Paul-Ricard circuit with the third leg of the VdeV season.
