REAL PANACHE
Bernard Ollivier, Alpine Deputy Managing
Director: “We have always said that our aim
was to win the LMP2 category at the 24
Hours of Le Mans. To achieve this, we formed
a winning partnership with the SignatechAlpine team, made up of six complementary
drivers, two very quick Alpine A460s and an
experienced technical team. We were on the
pace from the first practice sessions, and were
in contention for pole position. During the
race, the drivers competed with real panache
and managed to make up positions as the
race unfolded. Panache is an essential value
for Alpine and I think we showed it once again
this weekend. What could be better than this
superb win to support the renaissance of
Alpine in 2016 with the unveiling of the new
production model? Congratulations to Nicolas
[Lapierre], Gustavo [Menezes] and Stéphane
[Richelmi] for this great performance, the
effects of which will be felt all around the
world. Like everyone in the team, the only
thing I regret is that one of our cars didn’t
make it to the finish. We feel sorry for Nelson
[Panciatici], who was in the process of making
a great fight back, and his team-mates David
[Cheng] and Ho-Pin [Tung]. They will have
other opportunities to show their worth at the
forthcoming rounds of the FIA WEC.”
Philippe Sinault, Signatech-Alpine Team
Principal: “For a lot of people, this win was
more or less wrapped up even before the start
and I think that put us under a bit of pressure.
We had to remain grounded and treat this
great twenty-four hour race with the respect it
deserves. At the same time, we couldn’t just
play a waiting game.”