Coming to the last race of the first full ELMS season, the Cool Racing team was determined to show that it can fight up front. And it did in the first day, during the first practice session setting the overall best lap time, as well as in the Bronze collective test session.
Having found the optimum set-up, the team was able to test new things in the following free practice 2, but it was finally not going in the right direction. After an unsatisfying qualifying session, CLARA37 was 6th LMP2 on the starting grid.
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Iradj Alexander: We were a bit unlucky in the race today. Even before the big crash of the start that involved seven cars and Red flagged the race for 50 minutes, Antonin was the victim of a contact with another car that had spun in front of him and damaged the nose of our car. The second start was given under Safety Car and we hopped that it would run two laps, so we stopped for the repairs, but the Safety Car stayed for five laps, which means we ended up in the very back of the field.
Antonin did a great job in fighting back but he was too far down to make it up. Alex took over and after a misunderstanding with an LMP3 there was a contact, both cars went off, and while the P3 was able to get back on track, our car was stucked in the gravel. We had to wait for the marshals to recover the car and we lost another few laps. In addition the front was damaged again and had to be changed for the second time. Nico took over, tried his best to come back in the field and there were additional Safety Cars and Full Course Yellows. In the end, there was no chance to fight up front anymore. Thus we changed our strategy and put Alex back behind the wheel. He was doing very good, had a great rhythm and we decided to keep him in the car until the end, which gave him additional driving time and practice. In fact he did his longest driving time ever in the car since the beginning of the season.
Antonin Borga: It’s funny, Portimão is the last race of the season, but to me it really doesn’t feel like the end because we will go on in two weeks’ time in China for our third WEC race… We had a good start this weekend, had a fantastic car in the free practice, and then it was much more complicated in qualifying. This race was definitely not the best one of the season. But we do have a great team, and great driver line-up and a great car, and in the end we are 7th in the ELMS championship, and only the second of the teams with a bronze driver. So in the end, it’s really not that bad…
Of course it’s pity to finish on a bad note, but we will go on working hard, as we do since the beginning. As soon as next Tuesday we will be testing here in Portimão with Michelin, and my personal task will be to work on qualifying. In the WEC championship the car is qualified by two drivers and Nico needs me to do better, so I will work hard on that point for the next meetings.