With a best lap time of 3m40.438s, Paul-Loup Chatin placed the Alpine A450b seventh on the LMP2 class timesheets at the end of the opening qualifying session for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Qualifying concludes Thursday with two further two-hour sessions beginning at 19:00 and 22:00.
Less than ten days after the rain-plagued official Test Day, the weather remained distinctly unpredictable for competitors as free practice and qualifying got underway ahead of the 83rd edition of the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours.
Signatech-Alpine did not venture out much during Wednesday’s free practice session, limiting its running to just 17 laps split between its three drivers so as to avoid both the rain and the red flag interruptions...
At 22:00, the first of three qualifying sessions revved into life and, with the circuit now dry, Nelson Panciatici was the first to lay down a marker for the team with a lap time of 3m41.115s. Paul-Loup Chatin then took over at the wheel of the Alpine A450b and set a new benchmark of 3m40.438s, before Vincent Capillaire climbed inside the cockpit to complete the session.
Signatech-Alpine will return to the track tomorrow (Thursday) for two further qualifying sessions, the first from 19:00 - 21:00 and the second between 22:00 and midnight, after which the starting grid for the 83rd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours will be established based upon the fastest overall lap times.
Philippe Sinault, Signatech-Alpine Team Manager: “Today was again disrupted by the weather and, as the forecast suggests the track will be wet tomorrow, we elected to send both Nelson and Paul-Loup out on new tyres in qualifying this evening. It was difficult to find a clear lap, but the car is now guaranteed a spot on the starting grid!”
Paul-Loup Chatin: “These pre-race sessions have been very useful, although we haven’t run as much as we want to yet and we are still not quite where we need to be in terms of performance. We worked hard today, but you can’t read too much into the lap times from tonight.”
Nelson Panciatici: “It was a productive day for me, as I was able to complete my first laps in the dry. Tomorrow, I hope the conditions will be good enough to allow us to set some fast times. I was able to get to grips with the Alpine A450b around this circuit and I felt very comfortable behind the wheel.”
Vincent Capillaire: “In spite of the tricky conditions, I really enjoyed driving the Alpine A450b around the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit today – it truly is a magical experience. We were able to get some running in during the dry, which helped us to prepare for the race. Tomorrow, I will focus on getting some more night-time running under my belt.”
Qualifying Session 1 Classification – LM P21 KCMG N°47 (Howson / Lapierre / Bradley) 3m38.032s2 Greaves Motorsport N°41 (Hirsch / Lancaster / Paletou) +0.926s3 Jota Sport N°38 (Dolan / Evans / Turvey) +0.972s4 G-Drive Racing N°26 (Rusinov / Canal / Bird) +1.835s5 Thiriet by TDS Racing N°46 (Thiriet / Gommendy / Badey) +1.891s6 OAK Racing N°34 (Cumming / Vanthoor / Estre) +2.026s7 Signatech-Alpine N°36 (Panciatici / Chatin / Capillaire) +2.406s...19 competitors
Programme Thursday, June 11, 19:00 - 21:00 – QualifyingThursday, June 11, 22:00 - 00:00 – QualifyingFriday, June 12, 17:30 - 19:30 – Drivers’ ParadeSaturday, June 13, 09:00 - 09:45 – Warm-upSaturday, June 13, 15:00 – Start of the Le Mans 24 Hours
