After clinching LM P2 success at the 6 Hours of Shanghai, Alpine heads to Bahrain for the last round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).As in China, the Alpine A450b will be shared by Frenchmen Nelson Panciatici, Paul-Loup Chatin and Tom Dillmann.Signatech-Alpine is targeting a third straight podium finish to make sure of fourth place in the 2015 LM P2 Trophy standings.
Three weeks after claiming Alpine’s first win in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Nelson Panciatici, Paul-Loup Chatin and Tom Dillmann head for Bahrain, the last stop of their highly fruitful mini-Asian tour.
After securing second place in Japan and victory in China, the Alpine A450b is on a highly competitive streak as the team turns its attention to the weekend’s visit to the Middle-East.
Nelson Panciatici and Tom Dillmann both know Sakhir thanks to previous experience in the FIA WEC and GP2 Series respectively, but Bahrain International Circuit is virgin territory for Paul-Loup Chatin who has been familiarising himself with the track’s heavy braking and hard acceleration on the ELLIP6 simulator.
Signatech-Alpine’s objective is to finish the year with fourth place in the LM P2 Trophy and a top-three result would clinch that result.
The 32-strong entry features nine LM P2 prototypes, but Signatech-Alpine will be the field’s only all-French driver line-up.
Philippe Sinault (Team Principal, Signatech-Alpine): “Our win in China has encouraged us to raise our sights. We really want to conclude the year on a high note. We will need to take Bahrain’s abrasive track and the heat into account if we want to optimise our tyre management. We have made a great deal of progress in this area since the end of the summer break and we also benefit from a competitive, nicely-balanced driver line-up. We are looking for a podium finish.”
Nelson Panciatici: “The conditions in Bahrain promise to be very different to what we saw in Japan and China, but we want to keep on playing a front-running role. It would be excellent if we could challenge for a top-three result. The track is particularly nice to drive in a prototype but it will be important to take care of tyre wear.”
Paul-Loup Chatin: “We have shown over recent months that a podium finish in Bahrain is a realistic target. I’ve been getting to know the track on the simulator and it seems quite easy to learn. We know we will need to pay attention to tyre management but we are all determined to fly the Alpine flag as high as possible to wrap up the season.”
Tom Dillmann: “I’ve raced at Bahrain three years in a row in GP2 Series, and I even won there once. It’s basically a sequence of hard braking and hard acceleration. I feel ready for the challenge after winning in Shanghai for my first time out in the Alpine A450b. I’m also accustomed to managing the issue of tyre degradation. The aim is to do as well as we did in China. I know that will be quite complex but we form a strong line-up and that’s a factor in our favour.”
Timetable (local time, UTC+3)3:15pm, Thursday, November 19: Free Practice 1 (90 minutes’)7:30pm, Thursday, November 19: Free Practice 2 (90 minutes)11:00am, Friday, November 20: Free Practice 3 (60 minutes)5:30pm, Friday, November 20: LMP Qualifying (20 minutes)3:00pm, Saturday, November 21: 6 Hours of Bahrain
