Autosportfoto

Alpine and Nelson Panaciatici ready to play a lead role!

After a two month break in which the Signatech-Alpine team took part in Le Mans 24 Hours and saw the public fervour raised by the return of the Alpine marque, the European Le Mans Series picks up where it left off and takes to the fabulous Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria.

The Alpine A450 stamped its mark on the mythical Le Mans 24 Hours, racing back up from 51st after running into some problems to 14th place at the finish along with 8th place in LMP2. Setting a pace close to that of his qualifier in all his relays, Nelson Panciatici was a key player in this incredible comeback. Only the frustration of not achieving the potential of the Alpine A450 spoilt the festivities and Nelson intends to fix that from this very next race:

"The Alpine A450 has the means to reach a victory, now we have to achieve its potential as soon as possible. We are half way through the championship and ideally we'd like to take the lead. For that we need to get into a victory's big points, it's up to us to seize our chance. I took a few days holiday after Le Mans 24 Hours because I needed to unwind, I'm now back in top form and ready to do battle! I don't know the Red Bull Ring but I spent a whole day on the ellip6 simulator and watched many videos, which should do. We won't have much free practice and we will have to find the right set of Michelin tyres for the car quickly but I'm not worried, it's an exercise the Signatech-Alpine team excel at. With Pierre Ragues, my co-driver, we make a good team with nothing to envy our opponents, so we can dare to think of victory. Representing such a mythical marque gives the whole team huge motivation to reach our objective as well!"

The Signatech-Alpine team continues its journey in the return of the marque to endurance and Nelson Panciatici will want to, without a doubt, contribute to the renewal of the sporting Alpine!