Marseillaise rings out for Narac and Pilet at Magny-Cours

Informations

• Publié par: Thowyor
• Nombre de lectures: 30
• Langue: English

Extrait

Marseillaise rings out for Narac and Pilet at MagnyCours

IMSA Performance Matmut’s string of disappointing results came to a spectacular end at MagnyCours last weekend thanks to victory in round five of the International GT Open.

It had been the Normandybased team’s objective to do just that on home turf in France, which marked the halfway stage of this year’s campaign. Following the previous meeting at Spa where tyre problems had badly affected their performance, Raymond Narac and Patrick Pilet were forced to use worn rubber during Friday’s free practice sessions. Although far from ideal, the pair was at least able to complete some limited setup work before attacking qualifying with fresh tyres. Their extensive knowledge of the NeversMagnyCours layout would also help claw back some lap time and by the end of the two sessions, Patrick and Raymond had clinched 2nd and 4th positions for the two races. It was a promising result and one which rewarded the team with all important confidence after their troubles in Belgium a few weeks back. “Our stints in free practice showed that the car was behaving well and that the tyre was not wearing out,” confirmed Pilet. “It was certainly difficult to forecast what could happen during the race, especially with the heat wave expected for the whole weekend, but at least we were able to reassure ourselves, which was very important even though I knew it could not be any worse than in Belgium.”While 4th for the start of race one was encouraging, it was more the car’s handling that gave the IMSA Performance Matmut drivers hope of two strong race results. Even so, the start of race one didn’t go quite according to plan for the #76 Matmutliveried Porsche. As the lights went green, Narac was forced wide around the outside of the long Adelaide curve in order to avoid heavy contact with fellow Frenchman and leading GTS contender JeanPhilippe Dayraut, and by the end of the opening lap he was down to 7th. Not that it took very long to recover the lost ground, so much so that by the time he handed over to Pilet, the crew were up to 3rd. Not even a small problem with the refuelling hose during the driver change, which cost roughly seven seconds as well as the additional handicap of 10, could prevent the team emerging second. “I rejoined in second behind the Toccacello/Giammaria car and attacked hard to catch the Ferrari,” said Pilet. “I was gaining around two seconds a lap and was right behind him quite quickly. I tried to overtake in the Imola chicane, which is an unusual place to pass, but managed to get through! Once I was ahead, I concentrated on managing the race and tyres until the end.”After such a long run of poor luck, victory in

1 / 2

France tasted particularly sweet for the IMSA Performance Matmut team. But victory in race one also ensured that the squad’s additional stationary pit time handicap was increased from 10 to 25 seconds for Sunday’s second race. This time it was Pilet who took the wheel for the start behind his forthcoming Spa 24 Hours team mate Richard Lietz. In spite of its tricky nature, MagnyCours’ first corner posed no problem for the Frenchman who maintained his second place through the long Estoril curve. A close fight was brewing though between the two factory Porsche drivers with Pilet right on the bumper of the Austrian ahead. But overtaking proved much tougher and the positions remained unchanged up until the pit stops. “I came in a lap after Lietz which allowed me to gain a bit of time back due to the clear track in front of me, although Raymond still rejoined 15 seconds behind Roda. Unfortunately, he was also stuck behind the Autorlando car which was obviously running better during the second race. He reduced the gap by a few seconds but to chase down victory in a 50minute race is impossible,” explained Pilet. “We have made a big step forward this weekend and even if we’re still missing those last two or three tenths, we’re still going in the right direction. There’s just 22 points (equivalent to a victory) between us and the leaders, while we’re 10 back from second. We will have to deal with a time handicap of halfaminute at the next race (Brands Hatch), but I would rather be in that situation than in the one where we do not have any handicap at all!”“This is looking good for the rest of the championship,” confirmed Narac. “We produced a great race with Patrick on Saturday. The second was a bit more complicated because the car was not as competitive as the previous day, which prevented us overtaking the Autorlando Porsche, which meant we settled for second place. But in the end a first and second is an extremely satisfying result which perfectly demonstrates the counterattack we’d hoped to launch during the second half of the championship." It’s a battle that will continue at the Brands Hatch circuit on September 18/19. In the meantime, this weekend sees the IMSA Performance Matmut team travel to Portimao in the south of Portugal for round three of the Le Mans Series.

Date : July 13, 2010

2 / 2

PoweredbyTCPDF(wwwt.cp)gro.fd