Pescarolo Team Silverstone race report

No rub of the green for Pescarolo Team Autovision

Among the four LMP1 diesel on the grid, two had been delayed right from the start. In other words, a gasoline LMP1 could end up on the podium! Six of us could aim at that spot but after six hours of an intense fight, Olivier Pla and Alexandre Prémat on their OAK-Pescarolo were the one to lead the tight gasoline pack, all of us being classified in the same lap… Our sincere congratulations to them, and a little “thank you” on the side since those big points won’t go to the Toyota Rebellion, our rival for the LMS title.

#16 Pescarolo Team Pescarolo - Judd: Emmanuel Collard, Christophe Tinseau, Julien Jousse

Photo by: Daniel James Smith

What about us? Well, we finished 6th, but the result doesn’t reflect the brilliant job of the Pescarolo Team. Car, drivers, crew gave a flawless performance of front of the british crowd. Our LMP-1 had been aerodynamically modified in order to comply to the new safety regulation that followed the multiple Le Mans crashes.

We even went through multiple testing sessions on the Bugatti racetrack to optimize the new aero package for Silverstone. There, we discovered that our tire manufacturer had developed new tires for the “large rims” used only by Audi, Peugeot…and Rebellion, giving them a tested and verified 5 tenth advantage on a single lap! Mind that this advantage over 185 laps is bigger than the gap that separated us from the podium, but if wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets.

Let’s just hope that the performance gap with our tires will be smaller at Estoril for the last race of the season, because Rebellion is only 2 points ahead of the Pescarolo Team in the provisional classification. Whichever finishes ahead of the other in Portugal will be crowned champion. On the other hand, Collard, Jousse and Tinseau are still leading the driver’s championship. And, don’t laugh, Pescarolo Team Autovision is still leading the… Michelin Green X Challenge!

Next round: Estoril: September 25th