6 Hours of Fuji: For Alpine, a podium finish was within reach in the LMP2 class
After once again a difficult qualification, the Alpine team could rely on the N°36 crew to secure a good Top 5. However, despite the displayed pace, a few mistakes during the race prevented a second consecutive podium.
After two years in Hypercar, with the modified LMP1 prototype, Alpine has chosen LMP2 as a transition year before returning to the top category next year with a real Hypercar.
The 6 Hours of Fuji were a source of good hopes for the Dieppe-based team, who had just achieved a superb podium finish (2nd with car number 36) in Monza, at the beginning of July. However, qualifying has not been the strong point for Philippe Sinault’s team since the start of the season.
At the foot of Mount Fuji, the blue prototypes had varying fortunes: Car number 36, starting 9th out of 11, had a meteoric start to be in 4th place after the Safety Car restart. Car number 35, on the other hand, finished in a very disappointing last place without having a clear opportunity to move up.
« Memo (Rojas) and Olli (Caldwell) could only have five laps each on the dry track to truly discover this circuit » Philippe Sinault further explains. « Memo got caught up at the start and quickly found himself struggling with his tires. We then made the choice to shorten his stint, but the gap had already been created. »
The other driver of car N°35, Portuguese André Négrao, doesn’t have a simpler explanation. « It was a really difficult race on our side of the garage. The car had a good balance, but we simply lacked performance compared to our direct competitors. »
The drivers of the N°36 among the fastest on the track
On the contrary, the other car was able to fight head-to-head with the very fast United (No. 22 and No. 23) and WRT (No. 31 and No. 41) cars. The trio of Canal/Vaxivière/Milesi consistently sailed in the Top 5. In fact, Charles Milesi engaged in a thrilling battle with Gabriel Aubry’s Vector Sport No. 10 for a few laps in the middle of the race, before returning to the pits.
All in all, these are just a few race mishaps, such as the full course yellow and simply the overall pace that deprived the Alpine 36 of a second consecutive podium. And God knows that Julien Canal went all out at the start! « I’m really happy with my start, where I was able to seize every opportunity that presented itself to climb from ninth to fourth place. It was quite intense », recounts the main person concerned.
The final round of the championship will take place on the weekend of November 2nd, on the occasion of the 6 Hours of Bahrain. And Philippe Sinault intends to close the 2023 chapter in the best way possible, which goes without saying for any competitor.
We will draw all the necessary lessons from this for Bahrain, where we will have to be more offensive, especially in qualifying to immediately be in the right group for this eight-hour race. The autumn promises to be intense with the parallel development of the Hypercar, but we are mobilized and we all have at heart to finish on a high note with our two crews. » There’s nothing left to do but go for it.
