A final podium for Panis/Neubauer/Buret at Paul Ricard 19.11.2020: Qualifying : P4 Silver Cup (P22 overall) Race : P2 Silver Cup (P16 overall) This weekend marked the end of the GT World Challenge Europe season, and the 6-hour final race at the Paul Ricard circuit was staged behind closed doors and unusually ov

Qualifying : P4 Silver Cup  (P22 overall)
Race  : P2 Silver Cup (P16 overall)



This weekend marked the end of the GT World Challenge Europe season, and the 6-hour final race at the Paul Ricard circuit was staged behind closed doors and unusually over a two-day format (Saturday and Sunday). After a qualifying session disrupted by a broken front splitter on floppies and a race troubled by a penalty and a contact with a competitor, the Panis/Neubauer/Buret trio kept pushing on the track to finish brilliantly on the 2nd step of the podium in the Silver Cup!

 


At dawn, Tech1 Racing started the last race of the season on the Paul Ricard circuit with a 90-minute free practice session. The track was greasy and tricky, and a red flag appeared very early, cutting the session short. After 33 laps, the #15 Lexus was the fastest of the GT3s out there in the Silver Cup (14th overall).



During the pre-qualifications in the early afternoon, the young French trio completed 41 laps, set an excellent rhythm on long stints and finished P2 in the Silver Cup standings (P8 overall).



The three 15-minute qualifying sessions took place at nightfall with Thomas Neubauer, Timothe Buret and Aurelien Panis successively on track. After a good Q1 from Thomas Neubauer 0.5s off the fastest time, Timothe Buret damaged the splitter of the car on track limiters during his Q2. The car lost a lot of performance, also compromising the Q3 of Aurelien Panis. The overall average (1.54.887) put the car on the second row of the grid (P4) in Silver Cup (P22 overall).

 



Wind and clouds rose on the Paul Ricard circuit on Sunday when Thomas Neubauer jumped in the Lexus #15 for the start of the Paul Ricard 1000 km. Starting from the middle of the 40-driver pack, he gained 5 places right away, 16th overall and most of all in the lead of the Silver Cup. He grabbed two more places before handing the car over to Aurelien Panis after a little bit more than an hour of racing.


The native from Grenoble came out of the pits in 15th place (1st in the Silver Cup). Unfortunately, he had to undergo a drive-through and lost the leadership of the Silver category. Afterwards, more determined than ever, he set a very good pace until the first Full Course Yellow.


After two hours of racing, he went back to the pit, with Timothe Buret now ready for his first stint.The driver from Montpellier started under a Safety Car period for a few laps, just behind the Lamborghini (Barwell Motorsport) now in the lead of the Silver category. As he was about to get close to him, he was hit by a backed car, causing him to lose a few precious seconds and damaging the front of the engine bonnet.



The lifted bonnet prevented him from driving properly because of a lack of visibility the following laps. He lost places but did a great job of staying on the track until the end of his stint. When he came back to the pit, the team struggled to quickly repair the bonnet. When Thomas Neubauer finally got back on track for his second stint, the #15 Lexus was now in 26th position (6th Silver).



Eager to move up in the standings, he regularly posted very good lap times and managed to gain one place. Mainly, thanks to the wide range of strategies in the race, when Aurelien Panis started his second stint, a theoretical second place of the category was within reach. He precisely managed to move up to the second place of his category (15th overall) thanks to a great pace.




Half an hour later, at nightfall, Aurelien made a final pit-stop but stayed in the cockpit of the #15 Lexus. He finished the job and crossed the chequered flag after 6 hours and 178 laps on the track, in the 16th place overall, delivering a podium and a second place in the Silver Cup to the Tech1 team!

 


Simon Abadie - Team Manager :  "This final result is, of course, a satisfaction, but we have a bitter taste because the victory was really within our reach considering the performances of both the drivers and the team. Once again, we suffered some race incidents that spoilt everyone's efforts.



The kind of bad luck we had almost all along this season. If, as it was more than achievable, we had won this final, we would have finished second in the Championship in our category.
As a team manager, I can be more than frustrated, because, beyond my engineering and technical team's great progress with the Lexus, we have excellent drivers.



Thomas (Neubauer) was extremely fast at every event and was a real boost for the team. Aurelien (Panis) also showed his speed on the track as well as his usual consistency. These two youngsters are very professional drivers, and I trust the Lexus team to help them develop their careers with the brand. Also, Timothe (Buret) who joined them in endurance racing, did some great things on track. It’s more than evident that some very good results were often ruined by bad luck and sometimes also by some inconsistency of the Race Direction.



I would like to thank my team, who have never stopped improving their pit-stop management, the drivers who have never given up despite the setbacks we have faced, and the Lexus staff who have worked alongside us."

 

    


 Muriel Belgy, Twenty-One Creation photos