European Le Mans SeriesRed Bull Ring (Austria)July 19-20, 2013
Less than a month after taking the chequered flag at Le Mans, the Alpine A450 resumes its European Le Mans Series (ELMS) campaign this weekend.
After the 2013 championships earlier trips to Great Britain and Italy, Signatech Alpine travels to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for round three of the season.
Signatech Alpines driver line-up in Austria will be its usual pairing Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues who are provisionally second in the ELMS Drivers standings.
Less than a month ago, Signatech Alpine produced a strong performance at the 90th anniversary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours where Tristan Gommendy, Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues had the satisfaction of completing the distance. The teams efforts were rewarded by the Prix ESCRA, a prize awarded to the best technical crew.
After the lengthy period during which all minds were essentially focused on the famous French endurance race, the Alpine A450 resumes European Le Mans Series action this weekend at the Red Bull Ring. Alpine has a successful record in Austria which hosted a round of the World Endurance Championship in 1975. The French carmaker entered two Renault Alpine A442s for the race, one for Grard Larousse/Jean-Pierre Jarier (pole position), and the other Patrick Depailler/Jody Scheckter (fastest race lap).
For the third round of the 2013 European Le Mans Series, the teams technical squad has fine-tuned the set-up of the Alpine A450 to match the specific requirements of the new location: Le Mans was an important part of our 2013 programme, notes Signatech Alpines Team Principal Philippe Sinault. It was also a particularly complex race this year but I believe we provided an eloquent illustration of our savoir-faire. The rewards we gleaned and the coverage our participation generated show that we are heading in the right direction. Now, however, we are totally focused on the European Le Mans Series again. The cars aerodynamic set-up is very different to what we saw at Le Mans. We will run much more downforce and a specific Red Bull Ring set-up. Free practice will be very important in order to optimise the car and give our drivers a chance to familiarise themselves with the new venue. After coming second at Imola, we want to go one better. Our aim in Austria is to win!
The second part of the season promises to be crucial, underlines Nelson Panciatici. Signatech Alpine has prepared extremely thoroughly for the race at the Red Bull Ring. Personally, I spent a great deal of time on the Ellip6 simulator to learn the track. Our aim is to run at the front of the field, which will be important for the rest of the championship. And that would be a great reward for all the work the team have put in.
Pierre Ragues adds: Our simulator is increasingly realistic and our work on it helped us to be on the pace quickly at Imola. That will be vital again in Austria where we will only have two hours of free practice, and where few of the drivers really know the track. We will do our best to secure a top result and I think it will be an interesting fight.
Alpines junior driver Paul-Loup Chatin will contest the race in the LMPC class. The third round of the year has attracted an entry of 29 cars, including 10 LMP2 prototypes. The race will share the bill with the World Series by Renault meeting and tickets are free for spectators.
Timetable: Friday, July 19 10:20am Free practice 1 (60 minutes)3:30pm Free practice 2 (60 minutes)
Saturday, July 20 10:50am LMP2 and LMPC qualifying (20 minutes)4:30pm Race (3 hours)
