Alpine enters the home stretch 22.08.2021: • Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team is in the thick of the battle for third place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. • The n°36 Alpine A480 regularly among the fastest cars during the night. • Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere will c

•    Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team is in the thick of the battle for third place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

•    The n°36 Alpine A480 regularly among the fastest cars during the night.


•    Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere will continue to fight in last six hours.


 


The night time portion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, dreaded by all, was an evening of mixed fortune for Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team, which remains in contention at the sharp end of the overall classification.



Regaining third place for the second time after Nicolas Lapierre's spin at the start, Matthieu Vaxiviere's run into the gravel before midnight and André Negrão's slow puncture, the n°36 Alpine A480 also lost ground with a touch of bad luck during the various neutralisations.



André Negrão was among the faster competitors on the track and the team adjusted his strategy to preserve the tyre allocation before Matthieu Vaxiviere took over just after the midway point of the race. Triple stints by both men, with one set of tyres each, gave the trio a slight advantage in their strategic battle with the n° 708 Glickenhaus.



The Frenchman picked up the pace just until dawn to conclude a less dramatic second half of the night, during which the team put in a faultless showing thanks to its excellent work during the pit stops before Nicolas Lapierre got back into the car just as the fog rolled in over the Sarthe region.



While Nicolas Lapierre found his way through a gravel trap at the end of his first stint, his work paid off as he exited the pits ahead of his direct rival after his second stop with less than eight hours to go. At the end of his third triple stint since the start of the race, Nicolas Lapierre handed over to André Negrão, who continued the fight against the n°708.



Still fighting and determined, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team was third in the general classification heading into the last quarter of the race.





Quotes



 
Philippe Sinault, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team Principal


"We had managed to create a gap in our battle for third place that would have kept us out of a back-and-forth, but a slow zone put an end to that as we lost 25 seconds more than our rivals. We are in a scenario where we will pass each other at each stop, but we can count on André, who will aim to steadily widen the gap to secure the position.


The events early in the night meant that we were slightly short of tyres, but we have returned to a nearly normal mode by opting for triple stints. We should therefore be able to run fresh tyres until the finish unless something unusual happens."



 

André Negrão


"We are doing our race, maintaining a strong pace and continuing to push. It was a busy evening and night. I had a slow puncture while the race was under a full course yellow. There was a small hole in the tyre, but there was no warning message on the dashboard.


However, the team did a fantastic job to minimise the loss of time. The gap to the leaders is quite large despite our similar lap times, but we are now tackling the most important six hours so we will keep working to see if we can make up a position or two."





RESULTS


Start: 3rd (3rd Hypercar)
Hour 1: 5th (3rd Hypercar) at 1:17.046s - 14 laps
Hour 2: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1:15.463s - 30 laps
Hour 3: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1:54.121s - 46 laps
Hour 4: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1:54.990s - 60 laps
Hour 5: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1 lap - 75 laps
Hour 6: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1 lap - 87 laps
Hour 7: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 1 lap - 100 laps
Hour 8: 8th (4th Hypercar) at 3 laps - 113 laps
Hour 9: 5th (4th Hypercar) at 3 laps - 126 laps
Hour 10: 4th (4th Hypercar) at 3 laps - 141 laps
Hour 11: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 3 laps – 157 laps
Hour 12: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 3 laps - 174 tours
Hour 13: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 3 laps - 190 laps
Hour 14: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 4 laps - 206 laps
Hour 15: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 3 laps - 222 laps
Hour 16: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 3 laps - 239 laps
Hour 17: 4th (4th Hypercar) at 5 laps - 254 laps
Hour 18: 3rd (3rd Hypercar) at 5 laps - 271 laps




Gilles GAUTHEROT  - photos Alpine