Pipo Derani continued his excellent 2016 form by playing another starring role in the second round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship at Spa-Francorchamps yesterday.
The 22 year-old Brazilian fought his way back from being tipped in-to a spin by Nelson Panciatici’s BC Baxi Alpine to put the No.31 Tequila Patrón ESM Ligier JS P2-Nissan he shares with teammates Ryan Dalziel and Chris Cumming in to contention for the LMP2 win. Panciatici was later penalised for the incident.
Fighting back impressively Derani handed over the car to Cumming who in turn passed on the steering wheel to Ryan Dalziel. Both completed fine stints before handing over to Derani for the final two hours of the race.
After a Safety Car was used to ensure the clean up of Stefan Mucke’s crashed Ford GT, Derani was able to climb up to second position. This became the lead after Nicolas Lapierre pitted for a splash and dash stop in the final stages of the race.
Despite a spirited defence of the lead, the No.31 Tequila Patrón ESM Ligier JS P2-Nissan, which had worn rubber at that stage of the race, was unable to keep Lapierre behind and crossed the chequered flag just 3.5s behind.
However, Derani’s performance was again one of the features of the race, especially after the early race frustration of losing time.
“I think we did the maximum as a team today and to come away with another good haul of points is satisfying because we knew Spa would be far from our strongest circuit,” said Derani. “The incident with Panciatici was unfortunate as he just gave me no room at all and forced me to the kerbs. But we fought back well and I was able to go from 9th to 4th before Chris and Ryan did really good stints.”
“At the end of the race when I was back in the car we got in to a good position but I couldn’t do anything to keep Lapierre behind,” continued Derani. “He had much better tyres and was quicker. Still, it was a strong result and yet again the Tequila Patrón ESM team was fantastic all week in Belgium. We have some really great momentum going in to the big one at Le Mans and I am really looking forward to the test day and the race week next month.”
The Le Mans 24 Hours test day takes place on Sunday 5th June. The Le Mans 24 Hours begins at 15.00 on Saturday 18th June.