Various incidents during the race upset the pace of the Oreca #28, which nevertheless took fifth place. The Ligier #27 finished in 14th place.
This shortened weekend of racing (two instead of three days) started well for IDEC SPORT as Paul-Loup Chatin took the best time in the night trials before grabbing pole position on Saturday morning. The driver of the Oreca #28 completed a lap in 1’32’’765 leaving Nicolas Lapierre more than half a second behind. Driven by William Cavailhes, the Ligier #27 was in the ninth row.
At 1830hrs on Saturday 20th July, Paul Lafargue was in charge of setting off in pole position. The French driver lost the advantage on the first bend, but stuck to the leader during his first stint. As for the Ligier, Stéphane Adler did not take any risks and took advantage of the bad luck of the other competitors to move up.
During the race, luck was not there for IDEC SPORT, who saw their race strategy hit by a penalty and by a number of full course yellow incidents (speed limited to 80km/h around the track), a safety car and several punctures. The Oreca #28 dropped to sixth place. In spite of the hard work done by Paul Lafargue, Memo Rojas and Paul Loup Chatin, the #28 IDEC SPORT crossed the finish line in fifth place.
“Our overall performance was good. We have nothing to be ashamed of in comparison to the rest of the pack. We were among the quickest, but we weren’t lucky during the pit stops and two punctures. We just were not lucky. That’s what racing is about unfortunately. We gained some experience. It’s a bit disappointing in the championship, but we’re not in despair. We’ll see what happens what happens in the next race. We’re only halfway through the season and we’re not giving up,” explained Paul Lafargue.
The Ligier drivers managed to have a clean race, giving it their all. Nicolas Minassian, replaing Patrice Lafargue this weekend, crossed the finish line in fourteenth place. “I felt good in the car. I may have been a little bit more cautious when I got back up with the drivers who had got lapped, but that’s just a question of experience. Next time, I’ll be more determined,” admitted Stéphane Adler. “It was all very positive. We finished the race without any problems or mistakes. We made progress throughout the weekend and on top of that, we brought the car back in good condition.”
“This weekend, we were both good and poor. We need to improve how we manage the race. We are fast, but we are missing out on the finer points to see things work out. The drivers and team deserve better than that,” explained Patrice Lafargue.
The next race in the European Le Mans Series will take place on the legendary race track at Silverstone on 31st August.
