ALPINE CONTINUES ITS PODIUM STREAK IN BAHRAIN

Two months after finishing third in the Le Mans 24 Hours, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team returned to the track for the 6 Hours of Bahrain on the Bahrain International Circuit.

Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere made the most of free practice to get back into the swing of things while adapting to the scorching conditions in the heart of the desert. Following the three sessions, qualifying was entrusted to the Brazilian, whose fastest lap earned him the third-best time, less than a second from the pole position.

On Saturday morning, Matthieu Vaxiviere was charged with starting the 6 Hours of Bahrain. Pushing from the off, the Frenchman challenged the n°7 Toyota at the first corner and maintained the pressure on the leading duo. However, his mission to find an opening was compromised by a throttle issue.

Matthieu Vaxiviere completed his opening stint in third place. Nicolas Lapierre then took over before he handed over to André Negrão. Still in third place after two hours, the Brazilian and the team were caught out by a full course yellow shortly after their pit stop. The Alpine tacticians reacted quickly by changing strategy with an early stop, before Matthieu Vaxiviere took over from his Brazilian teammate.

Despite the extra pit stop, Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team held onto third place, heading into the last 100 minutes of the race. The French driver was on the lookout for the slightest opportunity and set a solid and consistent pace throughout the final 53 laps.

The trio's efforts in the Bahraini desert secured Alpine a fifth consecutive podium finish since its return to the premier class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team has also sealed second place in the Teams classification. In the Drivers championship, Mathieu Vaxiviere, André Negrão and Nicolas Lapierre could still finish second as they are now 25 points with 39 points up for grabs at the season-finale.

Les Bleus will have a chance to take their revenge next week in the final race of 2021: the 8 Hours of Bahrain. The competitors will once again be in action at the Bahrain International Circuit for a race that will be two hours longer, and this time will finish at night.

QUOTES

Philippe Sinault, Team Principal Alpine Elf Matmut Endurance Team

"This fifth podium is still a great result considering the context. The team was faultless on track and in the garage, as was the reliability except for that slight throttle issue that prevented us from getting full power at the beginning of the race. We were competing with the Toyotas until those two mid-race turning points. First of all, we used too much fuel because of the heat, then the first full course yellow cost us dearly as we had just refuelled, unlike our rivals. We also suffered at the end with tyres that behaved differently from our simulations. Our rivals were clearly stronger today, and they drove a perfect race in these extreme conditions. We are now looking ahead to next week when we will try to do better than third. We have a lot of work to do after this tough race for both the drivers and the cars, but we will be extremely motivated to finish our season on a high."

Nicolas Lapierre

"We got off to a good start with Matthieu, but ultimately we lacked some pace and range. We lost a lot of time with the first full course yellow as we did a pit-stop just before. But the good news is that we will have the opportunity to get our revenge next week!"

André Negrão

"These 6 Hours of Bahrain are over and that’s another podium for us. We had a good race with a strong pace, but we still need to improve in some areas. The full course yellow didn't work in our favour, but we can still fight for second place in the Drivers' Championship. That goal is now a bit harder to achieve, but let's wait and see what next week brings!"

Matthieu Vaxiviere

"We were in a pretty good position at the beginning of the race. The opening laps were tricky, but we closed the gap to the Toyotas until the problem with the throttle. It is something we need to analyse to make sure it doesn't happen again. The gap then widened, and it's too bad that the suspense was cut short, but we'll do everything we can to again pressure our rivals next week."