G-Drive Racing counterattacks in the Ardennes
- Pole position & win for G-Drive Racing #26
- Fastest Lap for Vaillante Rebellion #13
- Jacky Chan DC Racing #38 leads in points standings
Having come very close to achieving a win in Silverstone three weeks ago, G-Drive Racing clearly dominated all weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. The Russian team’s ORECA #07 controlled the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship entirely, from the pole position to the chequered flag, and against tough competition, sending strong signals before the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Key race before the main challenge of the season, the 6 Hours of Spa stood as a perfect opportunity for all teams of ORECA’s delegation to gauge themselves. For G-Drive Racing, and their rivals, the aim was to confirm the great performances delivered at the season’s opening. G-Drive Racing managed to clinch the pole position again in Spa (as they did in Silverstone), only some thousandths of a second in front of Signatech Matmut Alpine’s two cars, and just a little more ahead of CEFC Manor TRS Racing and Vaillante Rebellion. That shows the level of competitiveness between all cars manufactured by ORECA as well as the quality of preparation of each team entering the LM P2 class.
This second round of the season got off to a flying start with a solid performance delivered by the Russian ORECA 07. Attacked straight away by Romain Dumas’s Alpine, and several times overtaken by the Vaillante Rebellion #31 with Prost-Senna-Canal on board, the Rusinov-Thiriet-Lynn crew nevertheless resisted, also withstanding the huge pressure imposed at the beginning of the race by TDS Racing’s car (#38) as well as Jackie Chan DC Racing’s (winner in Silverstone).
G-Drive Racing encountered no issues, whether on track or in the pits, keeping their opponents back throughout two thirds of the race (118 laps out of 160 exactly). While some rivals, particularly Signatech Alpine Matmut and Manor, had difficulties with different contenders following on some contacts on track, Rebellion’s hopes vanished due to a faulty telemetry antenna for FIA-ACO data. The Race Director asked for it to be fixed in the pits. An issue that TDS Racing also encountered with its #28 car, before it went off track about four hours into the race, preventing the French team from a good result. Delivering a good performance on track, G-Drive Racing was also efficient inside the pits. Their car stopped the least, spending the least amount of time in the pits, just over 9 minutes throughout the challenge. Enough to achieve a masterful win and come three points closer to Jacky Chan DC Racing, current championship leader.
Roman Rusinov (G-Drive Racing driver): “Tyre management was the most difficult thing in this race. We started at the pace of a qualifying session which was probably a mistake because the end of my second stint was really tough. I lost a lot of time then. But I feel like our rivals actually experienced the same situation. We did well because everybody stuck to their role. I want to say that mechanics did an amazing job. It’s such a pleasure to begin the season like that. We’re now approaching the main race of the year, we have to keep that momentum going. Obviously it’ll be a hard challenge, but for others too. We’re going to make sure to enjoy this race as much as possible and not put too hard pressure on our shoulders.”
Before heading off to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Test Day (June 4th), several teams will come back to Spa-Francorchamps in about two weeks, for one final practice session.