After free practice to prepare the cars and tires to face the heat of Texas, the qualifying session ended up with encouraging P2 for the #13 and P4 for the #31.
It is noon in Austin, it is under 34 degrees that the 6 Hours of COTA started. From the first minutes, the #31 is aggressive and reached P3 with Bruno Senna at the wheel. After 45 minutes, the first changes took place and Nelson Piquet Jr and Julien Canal entered the track and again 45 minutes later David Heinemeier Hansson and Nicolas Prost. There followed a chain of relays to allow the drivers to face the very difficult weather conditions. Seven changes per car have been realized by the technical teams to lose as little time as possible.
This race was played from beginning to end between the two Oreca 07 Vaillante REBELLION, Signatech Alpine Matmut #36 and Jackie Chan DC Racing #37 and #38. The Safety car has greatly reduced the gap in a race where every second counts.
Finally, the regularity of the drivers and the quality relays allow both Oreca 07 #13 and #31 to move to positions 2 and 3 at the end of the fourth hour. A last 45-minute relay of the checkered flag will not change the ranking of the cars and Nelson Piquet Jr and Nicolas Prost passed the finish line in P2 and P3 of the LMP2 category.
Next meeting in Fuji (Japan) on October 15th!
Bart Hayden, team manager:
“Very happy with this new podium. It’s really good to make our performance with a beautiful podium! Starting forward was clearly an advantage. After our performance at Le Mans, it is a pleasure to be able to give the mechanics and the technical team of the #13 a new impetus. The car was really perfect. We must continue to work on the details that will allow us to gain victory! Congratulations also to the #31 for their podium and to the Alpine for their victory.”
Mathias Beche, #13 driver:
“Very happy with this new podium. It’s really good to make our performance with a beautiful podium! Starting forward was clearly an advantage. After our performance at Le Mans, it is a pleasure to be able to give the mechanics and the technical team of the #13 a new impetus. The car was really perfect. We must continue to work on the details that will allow us to gain victory! Congratulations also to the #31 for their podium and to the Alpine for their victory.”
David Heinemeier Hansson, #13 driver:
“The Lone Star Le Mans turned out to be a complete rollercoaster! We got off to a great start in P2, but when I got into the car for my first stint, the tires were done and I struggled massively. Thankfully a rare WEC safety car bunched up the field and I had a mega redeeming run for the second outing. Matt and Nelson drove ace as well, and while we didn’t have the outright pace to match the all-pro lineup in #36, we got the best we could. Great job by the team!”
Nicolas Prost, #13 driver:
“We had a great race, we managed the tire strategy very well, unfortunately the safety car and the pitstop problem cost us a lot. We are working very well on our car and it is still a big result, now we will have to reconnect with the victory over the last races.”
Julien Canal, #13 driver:
“A nice podium for us today in Austin. But it was not our day. We had a very good strategy then the safety car greatly reduced the gaps and the lead we had on our competitors. Then a technical error during my stop cost us 30 seconds and the 2nd place. We remain in the championship race but it will not be easy. We will do everything to win!”