The final two qualifying practice sessions have been completed at the Circuit de la Sarthe for this weekend’s 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

The #35 Alpine A470 of Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici and André Negrão will start the prestigious endurance race on Saturday afternoon from eighth in the competitive LMP2 class, and 14th overall of the 60 participants. 

 

The crew finished as the top Signatech Alpine Matmut line-up, three places ahead of their #36 sister car. 

 

On another hot and sunny day at the 13.629km Le Mans circuit, the focus for Pierre and the team was on establishing a solid foundation for race set-up, looking at settings, Dunlop tyre performance and the car’s behaviour in day and night conditions.

 

The opening two-hour qualifying session was interrupted by a red flag just 15 minutes into the session, and despite being extended, a red flag towards the end brought the session to its conclusion. Pierre completed a number of laps on used tyres as the team amassed 21 laps. 

 

In the final two-hour session, against a stunning sunset and into the night time, the team continued to focus on race preparation. Panciatici also tried a few new tyre runs in the night conditions but he was hindered by traffic on each attempt.

 

Pierre also had the opportunity for a fresh tyre run in the closing minutes of the session but was hampered by yellow flags at the session’s conclusion. With a 24-hour race ahead of the team, qualifying holds little significance but the drivers will be encouraged by their race pace. 

 

Friday will see the popular drivers’ parade but there will no track action until Saturday morning’s warm-up. The team will have the chance for final adjustments and validations before the 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway at 15:00 local time. 

 

Pierre said: “Qualifying has not been the smoothest for anyone with yellow flags and slow zones yesterday, and a number of red flag periods affecting the first session today. Still, we have had the chance to get some laps completed, concentrating on race pace primarily. I am really encouraged by the performance and pace from our Alpine A470 with a full tank and used tyres, which bodes well for the race. In qualifying trim, we couldn’t really set representative lap times for reasons out of our control, but it’s good to lead the Signatech Alpine Matmut charge in our #35 car. I expect a closely fought and competitive LMP2 battle in the race, and I can’t wait to get into race mode. We have the drivers’ parade tomorrow and some time to compose ourselves, ready for the big battle on Saturday and Sunday. Bring it on!”