The second round of the European Le Mans Series took place this weekend on the prestigious “Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari” circuit. Once again this year ProSpeed Competition entered their trustworthy Porsche 911 RSR for the French duo François Perrodo and Sébastien Crubilé, whom in principle can count on the support of their fast and highly experienced countryman Emmanuel Collard. Seeing the latter was withheld this weekend in Germany to compete in the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring for Porsche, François Perrodo and Sébastien Crubilé had the opportunity of testing out to the full the experience they had gained during the first round in Silverstone here in Italy. Right from the free practice sessions though the qualifying to the actual race the duo’s progress was more than solid, but a race-incident, as the result of a minor braking error, followed by a technical breakdown brought about their early retirement. They are classified seventh in the championship. Notwithstanding this Imola is another major chapter in the preparation towards the main goal that these two French drivers have set themselves: to compete in an endurance competition of the highest level.
Since the resurrection of the European Le Mans Series 2013 in Silverstone, one thing is a clear fact: the competition has visibly developed into an exceptionally high level event in the ACO’s philosophy, the promoter of this championship. A top-level mix of GTs and Prototypes, that notwithstanding the length of the races, compete as though it was a sprint event, but then one where speed is a factor running in parallel with race strategy, fast and perfectly executed pit-stops and efficiency when it comes to energy. Here the ProSpeed Competition team, the drivers François Perrodo and Sébastien Crubilé and the Porsche 911 RSR meet these requirements fully.
Rudi Penders (ProSpeed Competition Team Principal): “Not so much the incident in itself, but the fact that their progress curve was cut short far too early on is the greatest pity for both the drivers and the team. François Perrodo and Sébastien Crubilé have clearly set a goal and every meter of competition, definitely in such a top-level championship all helps towards preparing to achieve that goal. This weekend they were able to further develop the experience gained in Silverstone, experience thanks to their own individual input as also that of the collaboration with Emmanuel Collard. This they did, as was shown throughout the meeting. Throughout the various sessions the duo went ever faster and the actual race rhythm was in line with that of their nearest rivals. In this light everyone had hoped to be able to work this on through to the finish. We’re not going to give it another minutes thought and tomorrow by mutual agreement we’ll be back carrying on with the work.”
François Perrodo (Driver – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #75 – LMGTE): “Unfortunately I was taken by surprise by the temperature of the tyres, at the beginning of my stint. Up until then the weekend had gone to plan thanks to consistent improvements. The symbiosis between us drivers, the team and the car was perfect. All we can do now is to look ahead as to what is going to happen next and continue to work hard. As a last thought: Manu, loads of success at the Green Hell in Germany!”
Source : ProSpeed Competition