The IDEC Sport did incredibly well in managing their race in the Monza 4-Hour event. The Oreca #28 came from the back of the grid to take second place when the chequered flag was waved. The Ligier #27 finished 17th.
If IDEC SPORT was a football team, ot would be a bit like coming back from 5-0. The Oreca #28, came from the back of the LMP2 grid and clwaed her way back throughout the race to take second place on the podium. The trio formed by Paul Lafargue, Memo Rojas and Paul Loup Chatin thus achieved their second podium after the same result in Le Castellet.
Late yesterday, the IDEC SPORT team were feeling down after learning that the qualifying times for the Oreca had been wiped out due to a problem with the safety system in the gearbox. #28 therefore lined up at the back of the grid in the LMP2 category.
From the start, Paul Lafargue made progress dealing really well with the other cars. After ninety minutes behind the wheel, he handed the car over to Memo Rojas in fifth place. The Mexican driver was also on the attack and dealt well with various incidents on the track, with yellow flags and the safety car. When Paul-Loup Chatin took over, #28 was in third place. They could feel hopeful. The IDEC SPORT driver took off at great speed and the car flew around the track.
After overtaking for the final time, after 135 laps or more than 780 kilometres, Paul-Loup Chatin crossed the line in second place just 2’’135 after the winners.
“My co-drivers did a fantastic job and I’m really proud of them. There were lots of cars to deal with and the car did well. We showed that we were one of the favourites. There’s no secret. Our goal is to win. We were third in the championship last year and now we want to be champions. Our main rival is G-Drive, so we’re determined to beat them in the future. I think that today we could have done that, but it was down to a few details, so we lost a bit of time. We can be proud of what we did today especially after setting off from the rear in LMP2,” explained Paul-Loup Chatin.
As for the Ligier, which finished 17th, all of the drivers enjoyed themselves, which was the main thing. Patrice Lafargue was pleased with the team’s performance: “I’m really happy. There was a good line-up and climbing back like that is remarkable. The penalty was hard to take, but in spite of that handicap, we were determined to go out there and earn points. I’m proud of them. Everyone was keen to get out in front. We’re continuing to leap forward. Now we’ll be thinking of Le Mans as this is the final stretch. We’ll be tackling the Le Mans Race with a smile on our faces.”
With 36 points after two races, IDEC SPORT is in second place in the championship just two points behind G-Drive.
