Laughter and tears for Signatech-Nissan
Since Spa-Francorchamps, the second race of the season, the Signatech-Nissan team has entered two Oreca-Nissans in each round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Just as at Le Mans, the No.26 entry of Nelson Panciatici, Pierre Ragues and Roman Rusinov finished the Silverstone race ahead of its sister No.23 car, with Jordan Tresson, Olivier Lombard and Franck Mailleux being really unlucky.
The French trio started from the 7th row of the grid thanks to Franck Mailleux’s qualifying performance but unfortunately, during Jordan Tresson’s stint, he suffered a left rear tyre blow-out and the most recent winner of the Nissan GT Academy lost control of the car and ended his race in the guard rail. With this retirement following that of the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the second car therefore not contributing any points towards the championship, the Bourges-based team finds itself in seventh place from eight teams in the LMP2 teams’ classification.
It is therefore on the Franco-Russian trio that the hopes of Philippe Sinault’s team rest. The line-up didn’t put a foot wrong at Silverstone and crossed the finish line in third place in the LMP2 category (10th overall). A scant 25 seconds behind the class winner, their race result was helped by the safety car interventions which tightened up the field.
Philippe Sinault, Team Manager: “It was a fantastic race! Six hours of an F3 Grand Prix, I loved it. The team was exemplary, both in the preparation of the car, which had no problems at all, as in the pit stops, which were the fastest in the pit lane. All these elements combined to give us a great result this weekend. Pierre made a fine start, Roman put in a solid double-stint, while Nelson completed four stints with the bit between his teeth. To sum it up, the team was fantastic.”
Nelson Panciatici, No.26 Oreca-Nissan: “Physically, it was difficult at the end, and managing the traffic made some situations rather delicate – it was full attack for 182 laps, and I really enjoyed myself. To find yourself fighting with drivers like Sarrazin - that’s endurance racing at the very top! In just my third prototype race I have finished in third position. I have made a lot of progress in traffic management during the race, and that was one of the keys of this success.”
Jordan Tresson, No.23 Oreca-Nissan: “I am disappointed, I lost control of my car; I just couldn’t do anything when the left rear tyre quite literally exploded. The team deserved a good result this weekend for all their hard work since the start of the season.”
Fiona Miller (quotes from a team press release)
Photo: TOWCESTER (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, GREAT BRITAIN), SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, SUNDAY 26TH AUGUST 2012, RACE.