Two weeks ahead of the celebrated French classic, the countdown to the 84th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours kicks off with this Sunday’s official Test Day.The two Alpine A460s, which are both registered for the entire 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), will be crewed by Panciatici / Cheng / Tung (N°35, Baxi DC Racing) and Lapierre / Richelmi / Menezes (N°36 Signatech-Alpine).
Alpine intends to build on its recent LMP2 class victory at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (May 7) as it prepares for the highlight of the 2016 endurance racing calendar.
Since the N°36 Alpine A460’s LMP2 victory at Spa-Francorchamps at the beginning of May, Signatech-Alpine has had little opportunity to catch its breath. On their return to the team’s base after the Belgian race, the two LMP2 prototypes were completely stripped for a comprehensive overhaul before being rebuilt to their Le Mans 24 Hours specification.
The French 13.629km circuit entails top speeds in excess of 300kph, with 60 percent of every lap at full throttle, so that puts unique stresses on the cars which feature their lowest-downforce set-up of the season, including a ‘Le Mans’ aerodynamic kit complete with bespoke appendices.
Given that almost anything can happen in the course of a long race like the Le Mans 24 Hours, Signatech-Alpine has carefully prepared a stock of spares. All the sub-assemblies that might be used in the race have been individually shaken down at Lurcy-Lévis, France, and have since been stripped and rebuilt.
Meanwhile, the drivers have been spending more time than is customary on the team’s ellip6 simulator programmed for both daytime and night-time running! Nelson Panciatici, David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung, Nicolas Lapierre, Stéphane Richelmi and Gustavo Menezes have also met for technical briefing meetings with the team’s engineers, in addition to attending a ‘mechanics’ course that will help them to work on their car themselves if necessary.
This Sunday’s official pre-Le Mans test (June 5) will provide them with eight hours of track time at Circuit de la Sarthe where the team will remain based all the way through to the race itself on June 18-19!
Bernard Ollivier (Deputy Managing Director, Alpine): “There is always a certain sense of excitement at Alpine as Le Mans time approaches. Many years ago, when General de Gaulle asked the brand’s founder Jean Rédélé what purpose motor racing served, his answer was that – for Alpine – it was about flying the colours of France! Half-a-century on, we are the keepers of that heritage. We feel we are in good shape for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours, especially after our victory at Spa-Francorchamps. We go to Le Mans at the top of the championship standings, so that is something we want to defend, and that is all adding to the pressure! Hopefully, the Test Day will notably be productive for the N°35 Baxi DC Racing car which has been down on luck since the start of the season.
“In parallel to the on-track action, our programme at Le Mans will begin on Thursday when we will present the Alpine Vision and the A460s to staff at our plant in Le Mans. They are big fans of the legendary race and it will be a chance for them to meet some of our drivers. On Friday, June 17, the Classic British Welcome event in the village of Saint Saturnin [north of Le Mans] is this year dedicated to Alpine. A high number of clubs and cars are expected to attend and special guests will be Jean-Pierre Jaussaud and Mauro Bianchi. It will be a tremendous celebration of the passion for Alpine and also of Franco-British friendship. Last but not least, the Alpine Vision will be on display in our hospitality area at the track where the general public will also get an opportunity to view this exciting car. The 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours is going to be a big race for Alpine!”
Philippe Sinault (Team principal, Signatech-Alpine): “Our preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours began the moment we got back from Spa-Francorchamps. We have used our recent experience of Le Mans to pay meticulous attention to every single detail. For the technical team, the biggest task involved preparing all the spares, before and after track shakedowns. If we have to respond to a problem, that will allow us to intervene rapidly. Looking ahead more specifically to the Test Day, our priority will be to make sure our Le Mans rookies Stéphane Richelmi and Gustavo Menezes get to complete the 10 laps they need to qualify for race week. More generally, we will use the day to give time in the cars to those drivers who have the least experience of the track. Technically, we will focus on our aero kit and on making the most of our 2016-spec Dunlop tyres. The track will probably be very ‘green’ given the wet weather we have had recently, so there really won’t be much grip. We won’t be in pursuit of maximum performance.”
TIMETABLE
Thursday, June 2, to Saturday, June 4 Pre-test scrutineering and document checks (Circuit de la Sarthe)
Sunday, June 5 9:00am-1:00pm: testing2:00pm-6:00pm: testing
Monday, June 13 2:40pm: pre-race scrutineering and document checks (Place de la République, Le Mans)
Wednesday, June 15 4:00pm-8:00pm: free practice10:00pm-midnight: qualifying practice
Thursday, June 16 7:00pm-9:00pm: qualifying practice10:00pm-midnight: qualifying practice
Friday, June 17 9:00am-4:00pm: Classic British Welcome (Saint-Saturnin)5:30pm-7:00pm: Drivers’ Parade (Le Mans town centre)
Saturday, June 18 9:00am-9:45am: warm-up3:00pm: start of the 84th Le Mans 24 Hours
Sunday, June 19 3:00pm: finish of the 84th Le Mans 24 Hours
