Box Latest News
Photo News[10-05-2012]
PIERRE CAMPANA ENDS OPENING DAY OF TOUR DE CORSE WITH STUNNING STAGE WIN [Full Article]
Photo News[08-05-2012]
PIERRE CAMPANA IN THE HUNT FOR PODIUM FINISH AT TOUR DE CORSE [Full Article]
Photo News[05-05-2012]
VALUABLE INFORMATION COLLECTED AS PIERRE RAGUES AND ‘G-DRIVE BY SIGNATECH-NISSAN’ BATTLE BACK TO FINISH 6 HOURS OF SPA [Full Article]
Photo News[05-05-2012]
FRANCK MAILLEUX BRINGS HOME THE #23 SIGNATECH-NISSAN AFTER TOUGH SPA 6 HOURS [Full Article]
Photo News[03-05-2012]
PIERRE RAGUES CONFIRMED FOR FULL WEC SEASON WITH G-DRIVE BY SIGNATECH-NISSAN [Full Article]
[05-05-2012]
FRANCK MAILLEUX BRINGS HOME THE #23 SIGNATECH-NISSAN AFTER TOUGH SPA 6 HOURS Photo NewsFranck Mailleux and the Signatech-Nissan team finished this afternoon’s Spa six hour race in a disappointing 12th place in LMP2 after a difficult end to the race which saw the team lose over an hour of time after a crash by Franck’s team-mate in the final quarter of the race.

Franck’s contribution to the race was being held back until the final stage of the race as his team-mates Olivier Lombard and Jordan Tresson assumed driving duties first. Lombard got the team off to a flying start with a competitive triple stint that took him to sixth place in LMP2. Tresson also enjoyed some quick laps but unfortunately, in the process of enabling fuel save mode on his way back to the pits to hand over to Franck, he inadvertently switched off the traction control, causing him to lose control of the car into the barriers at the Bus Stop, causing significant damage.

Thanks to help from the marshals, Jordan was able to rejoin the track and make it back to the pits with substantial damage to the car’s front and rear suspension. The Signatech-Nissan team worked professionally and quickly to fix the damage to the car but lost an additional 46 minutes in the pits before Franck could finally take to the track.

After frustratingly sitting in the cockpit while the mechanics worked feverishly around him, Franck was quickly on competitive pace, setting some quick lap times, but he too was caught up in an accident after a Porsche made contact with him. A quick trip back to the pits for a front end change was required but a determined Franck returned to the race and fought hard until the chequered flag.

It had been a quiet weekend for Franck after driving just in Thursday’s practice session to acclimatise himself to the Oreca 03 chassis around the demanding Spa circuit. In spite of lots of traffic on track due to the competitive field, Franck found encouraging pace from the car and continued his preparations on Friday morning. Franck was not on qualifying duties with the team lining up 14th in LMP2 and 24th overall for the race. The pace of the car was proven across all three drivers in the race with Franck, Jordan and Olivier setting some very fast laps and running as high as second of the WEC cars. The team will now use this positive aspect of the weekend in preparing for next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

Franck Mailleux commented:
“It’s been a disappointing and frustrating end to our Spa weekend. There are, of course, positives to take away from the event, the most important being that we have some competitive pace in our Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03 car, but we were not able to get the result we wanted. Incidents like the one that Jordan unfortunately had can happen in racing so it was good to see the entire team coming together to fix the damage. It was incredibly frustrating for me to be sat in the car and not going anywhere for 46 minutes so it was a relief to finally get my first racing laps done in the final hour. The car felt good so it was agonising to be hit by another car and have to come back to the puts for front end repairs. I enjoyed the few laps that I got in the car and hope that we can put this disappointment behind us and look forward to the Le Mans 24 Hours. Thanks to the team, Nissan, Dunlop, my team-mates and my sponsors Sojasun for great team-work this weekend. Our season will get back on track soon, I am sure!”