ALPINE ELF ENDURANCE TEAM PUT TO THE TEST IN PORTIMÃO

From Friday, the team and its six drivers resumed the in-depth work begun during the winter tests on the same circuit. After three sessions cut short by contact between the n°94 Peugeot and the n°35 Alpine A470, the crews moved on to qualifying with the LMP2 category demonstrating again all its competitiveness with the field covered by just over a second. Despite their best efforts, and a lack of traction on their second set of tyres, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere had to settle for tenth and eleventh place.

At midday on Sunday, FIA CEO Natalie Robyn had the honour of getting the race underway. Making the most of the two formation laps to warm up his tyres, Julien Canal made a superb start to move up two places to ninth ahead of teammate Memo Rojas. Diligent during their required driving time, the Silver drivers carried out their double-stints on a track where they quickly had to deal with traffic before Charles Milesi and André Negrão took over.

With new tyres, the two men increased the pace to close the gap on their rivals and battle with the WRTs despite a top speed deficit and a race tremendously unfavourable to strategic shifts. Shortly before the midway point, the team decided to install a new rear end on the n°36 as Matthieu Vaxiviere and Olli Caldwell headed out on track. After two stints, Matthieu Vaxiviere handed over to Charles Milesi, while Olli Caldwell put in a triple-stint to keep lowering his lap times and stay in contention.

The action intensified at the beginning of the final hour with the only safety period of the race. The incident with the n°4 Vanwall allowed the n°36 Alpine to close ground before the final sprint, and Charles Milesi took advantage to surprise the n°28 JOTA. After his last pit stop, the French driver continued his push to overtake the n°34 Inter Europol Compétition with 12 minutes remaining to secure ninth place, just over 30 seconds off the podium. Meanwhile, André Negrão finished just outside the top ten.

By finishing ninth and eleventh, the A-arrowed brand scored its second consecutive double entry in the points. However, the team remains determined to take a step forward at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. This round, which will take place on 29 April, will be of the utmost importance as the final dress rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.