ALPINE ELF ENDURANCE TEAM DETERMINED TO BOUNCE BACK IN PORTUGAL

Following an exciting and hotly contested season-opener at Sebring, the FIA WEC returns to the Old Continent to kick off its European tour, which runs until July with stops at Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans and Monza.

While this is only the second time the FIA World Endurance Championship has visited Portugal, Alpine Elf Endurance Team is no stranger to the country, having sealed its second title on the European stage there in 2014. Since then, Estoril has given way to Portimão and the Autódromo do Algarve, built in 2008. Considered one of the most technical of Europe's modern circuits, the track features many high-speed corners and steep climbs that provide plenty of excitement.

For Portimão's first appearance in the FIA WEC calendar in 2021, Les Bleus wrote new pages in Alpine's rich history, scoring its maiden outright pole position in the Hypercar category. In addition to this historic feat, the driver line-up of Matthieu Vaxiviere, Nicolas Lapierre and André Negrão finished third whilst setting the fastest lap in the race.

On the strength of this experience, the French team is preparing to return to the challenges of the Algarve. The squad’s six drivers will be particularly attentive to turn one, where they will have to be extra vigilant to avoid an incident. At the end of the almost one-kilometre-long start/finish straight, it is preceded by a downhill braking zone before a fast sequence leading to a slower section. On the rest of the circuit, the drivers must be at the top of their game on the blind crests requiring constant commitment and pace. If not, they will lose precious time.

The duration of the race is another notable distinction: six hours, compared to eight hours for the previous edition in 2021. Far from being insignificant, this difference limits the strategic scope to get the maximum 25 points for the win, although tyre degradation could be a factor depending on weather conditions.

Alpine Elf Endurance Team is approaching the race with a sense of humility, but also with a genuine desire to experience a clean weekend and an insatiable desire to return to the podium in LMP2 thanks to the performance level that allowed them to work their way up the field at Sebring. In addition to their experience of the track and the knowledge gained from the two days of pre-season testing at the circuit, the Signatech engineers and mechanics will also rely on the invaluable contribution of their drivers, all of whom have past experience at Portimão, including Olli Caldwell who is about to race for the first time there.

Starting with free practice on Friday, André Negrão, Memo Rojas and Olli Caldwell in the n°35 car and Charles Milesi, Julien Canal and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the n°36 car will fine-tune the set-up of their Alpine A470s with the team until qualifying on Saturday. Thirty-seven cars, including 12 LMP2s, will start the 6 Hours of Portimão on Sunday at 12:00pm local time.

Philippe Sinault, Alpine Elf Endurance Team Principal

"We look forward to putting the frustration of Sebring behind us and confirming the excellent race pace we saw there. We have learnt all we can from the first round, where we experienced the ever-increasing competitiveness of the LMP2 category. Portimão was the only circuit we could test at before relaunching our LMP2 programme. Even though, like many tracks on the calendar, Portimão is atypical with many elevation changes, we are returning to a more classic and traditional circuit than Sebring. It is also why we felt the need to go there this winter. We will have to look for strategic window opportunities, as Portimão is known for being hard on the tyres, especially the left front. That will provide different options in a area we can control well by doing a perfect job. We look forward to it and we are going there to achieve a result more in line with our potential, namely a podium."

TIMETABLE

Friday 14 April

10:30am-12:00pm: Free practice 1

3:30-5:00pm: Free practice 2

Saturday 15 April

11:15 am-12:15pm: Free practice 3

3:55-4:15pm: LMP2 Qualifying

Sunday16 April

12:00-6:00pm: 6 Hours of Portimão