Franck Mailleux was unable to complete his final stints in today’s 6 Hours of Silverstone after a tyre puncture caused his team-mate Jordan Tresson to crash out of the race with 90 minutes of the race remaining. 

At the time of the incident, Tresson was heading back to the pits to hand over the reins of the #23 Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03 to Franck, who was scheduled to drive until the end of the race. Unfortunately, Tresson picked up a puncture - possibly caused by debris - which forced him off the track, resulting in an early finish for the team and another disappointing race result.

Although the team continues to suffer from misfortune in its World Endurance Championship campaign, it once again demonstrated the pace of its Nissan-powered package. Having qualified in sixth place on Saturday afternoon, Franck had a flying start and was quickly up to fourth place in class, hunting down a podium position.

Around 75 minutes into the six hour race, towards the end of his opening stints, Franck found himself to be an innocent victim of contact with a slower GT car. Franck was tipped into a 360° spin as a result of the contact and lost a position in the process. Pitting for new tyres and fuel, Franck handed over to Olivier Lombard for his stints. A safety car period was instigated two hours into the race but Lombard continued to show the car’s good pace before he handed over to Tresson at the race’s halfway mark.

The failure to finish this fourth race of the 2012 WEC season continues Signatech-Nissan’s tough season with the #23 car but the team knows that it has the ability to deliver results, something it will target at the next race in Brazil next month.

Franck Mailleux said: “I don’t know what to say but we seem to be suffering from a run of bad luck this season. We had a good qualifying yesterday in which we were able to qualify in the top six, even running a harder specification tyre. I had a great start to the race and was able to make up several positions in the opening laps. We were fighting for the podium places and definitely had the car pace and performance to do that today. Again, we were hit with misfortune when Jordan picked up a puncture, possibly as a result of running over some debris, which put him out of the race. These things happen in endurance racing and it is important for us not to dwell on these incidents. I know we have the ability to fight at the front and I know that our time will come to get the results we deserve. Thanks to the guys at Signatech-Nissan for their incredible work again, to my sponsors Sojasun and to my team-mates Olivier and Jordan. We will keep pushing and hope that Brazil will see a change in our fortune. I would also like to congratulate the guys on the #26 G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan car for a great and well deserved podium result today.”