Pierre Ragues and the Signatech-Alpine team have claimed a truly stunning second place in this afternoon’s 3 Hours of Red Bull Ring. The team fought hard through a busy field in hot temperatures after a post-qualifying penalty left them down in eighth place at the start. 

 

Pierre’s team-mate Nelson Panciatici put the Michelin-shod Signatech-Alpine A450 on provisional pole in this morning’s qualifying session, demonstrating the full performance of their vehicle around the Austrian circuit. Unfortunately, it was determined that one sector of his lap was set under yellow flags and the team saw themselves demoted the back of the LMP2 grid, to eighth place.

 

The competitiveness of the team’s package came to the fore in the three hour race as Pierre Ragues made a good start to already begin the battle to reclaim places. During his double stint, Ragues performed strongly to make up places all the time and by the halfway point he had taken the A450 into the top five, handing over to Panciatici for the final half. He still had to keep some margin in his performance given the heavy traffic throughout the comparatively short lap.

 

Following an incredible pit stop and driver change, thanks to the formidable work of the Signatech-Alpine crew, Panciatici continued the team’s fight back up the order. In a demonstration of the car’s pace, he made his way up to a fantastic second place and ran firmly until the end to repeat the team’s result from Imola in May. 

 

Thanks to this afternoon’s amazing result, Pierre Ragues now finds himself in a strengthened second place in the championship with the next round due at Hungaroring in September.

 

Pierre Ragues said: “What a fantastic race! We had a great car with the A450 and incredible pit work, which helped make up for the disappointment of losing pole position after qualifying. The race was tough with all the traffic and we endured the hot track temperatures that we have experienced all weekend which did restrict how much we could push at times. Nonetheless, we have been on strong form this weekend around this new venue for ELMS and I think we showed today just what we are capable of. I am sure we could have fought for the win had we started from pole but I am more than delighted with second, especially with the conditions. This continues our excellent run of results in ELMS and strengthens our second place in the championship. We can be proud of our achievements in our first season representing the Alpine brand and to have two second places and a fourth place in ELMS leaves us in positive spirits heading into the summer break. We look forward to Hungary where we will continue to push hard in our championship efforts. Thanks to the team, to my team-mate Nelson and the entire Signatech-Alpine team, as well as my personal sponsors Group Auto. It has been a weekend to remember!”