Having started off their season from Barcelona, the all-French driver line up of Clement Mateu, Erwan Bastard and Valentin Hasse-Clot had hoped that ‘home’ advantage would have put them in good stead for the weekend and all was looking good for them to do so until almost the end of the race.
Earlier private testing at the circuit had seen the #59 crew place themselves midway within the timing screen within their class of thirteen LMGT3 runners before the more formally timed Free Practice sessions came into play. Since the previous round, most of the entered OEM machinery had benefitted in one way or another in terms Balance of Performance with the sole AMR being best placed to receive more power availability, less weight but a small reduction in its maximum stint energy allowance.
After FP1, Mateu was able to show his newfound pace within his peers to lead the Bronze Driver Collective Test by the end of that session with a team effort then lifting their entry into the top five by the end of the final Free Practice going into Qualifying. Mateu then continued from where he had left off to claim his first ELMS LMGT3 Pole Position with a time seven tenths faster than his nearest rival.
Race day was, however, a new experience as the expected rain had finally arrived leaving for certainly a damp track but with teams open minded as to which way to go with tyre selection for the start with rain again falling on the two formation laps.
Getting underway in the rain saw the opening lap completed without any major incident but the #59 was fortunate to avoid two prototypes coming together at the end of the start straight for the second time for which the Safety Car would make a quick return to the track with the #59 dropping down to third.
Twenty minutes in and the rain began to fall in a heavier fashion as all cars that had started upon slicks finally relented for full wets which then dropped Mateu back down to the midtable position before another Safety Car was required for an LMP2 car nosed into the barrier just before the end of the first hour.
The second hour of the race was even wetter than the first as race strategy changed by the minute for the teams as the #59 crawled its way up the leaderboard to second coming up to the halfway point.
Going into the second hour the rain had relented, and a dry line began to form just as another LMP2 car went into the tyre wall at turn five bringing the Safety Car out again for a third time just as the #59 car had pitted for slicks for its final charge to the end
The effects of that Safety Car lost the #59 cars advantage, ultimately dropping them down to sixth in class going into the final stages of the race. By then, the track was effectively dry making for a situation which even Hasse-Clot could not recover.
Taking the chequered flag in P6 at least gave the #59 crew another eight plus one (for pole position) valuable championship points to now stand in P11 within the drivers table going into the third round of the season at Imola at the start of July.
Photo credits – Team / Series / social media