French racer Franck Mailleux has returned to the endurance podium in a thrilling battle around the Autodromo Dino e Enzo Ferrari in Imola this afternoon. 

 

Franck, driving the Morand Racing Morgan Judd LMP2 car with Natacha Gachnang, translated a sixth place starting position on the grid into a tremendous third place at the chequered flag with a masterful display of driving. 

 

The race got off to a sterling start for Franck has he made up a place on the opening lap. He continued to find a good rhythm as he moved into third place after a fantastic double stint that once again showed his competitive pace in the Dunlop-shod Morgan Judd LMP2. 

 

Franck handed over to Natacha Gachnang at the halfway mark in third place. Some light rain started to fall in places around the circuit which made for eventful opening to her stint. Nonetheless, she was able to continue to tour in fourth with an eye still on the podium places.

 

Natacha continued to show strong pace and benefitted when the car in front had to pit for a stop-go penalty after a pit lane infringement. Back in the podium positions, where they belonged, Natacha was able to finish the race with third place secured.

 

Pleased with his own performance and the end result, Franck said: “What an afternoon of racing! I am so pleased that we have been able to finish on the podium here in Imola and to celebrate the first top three result with the Morand Racing team. It’s been a busy weekend and not always easy with lots of traffic to negotiate on track and a lot of hard work. But the end result has been very worth all of our collective effort. I am pleased for the team that we are able to celebrate our first podium together and I am thankful to them for their big effort. I felt that my double stint went very well and I was able to show the sort of race pace that I have known we were capable of. We led the race at Silverstone and have now shown our ability to score a podium so this has to be the target for Le Mans, our next big challenge and I can’t wait!”