Pierre Ragues and Signatech Alpine Elf will target a top-three finish in the team’s classification in the 2019/2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, next Saturday. 

 

The disrupted eight-race championship, which got underway 16 months ago at Silverstone, will finally reach its conclusion, ending a racing year affected, like so many others, by the global pandemic. Pierre will join his team-mates Thomas Laurent and André Negrão in the #36 Alpine A470, determined to end the season in the same podium-winning style as they started it.

 

The trio finished the recent Le Mans 24 Hours in an impressive fourth place in LMP2, having fought back from an opening lap issue that dropped them to the back of the field. Pierre enjoyed a competitive performance behind the wheel of the #36 car and showed why he remains such a valued part of the Signatech Alpine Elf line-up.

 

Next week’s race will mark the second occasion that WEC has been held on the 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit this season, having run a day-into-night event last December. Pierre and his team-mates finished fifth on that occasion but demonstrated clear potential to pick up a podium. With a mathematical change of finishing inside the top-three of the end-of-year teams’ classification, all eyes will be set firmly on the podium on Saturday. 

 

The three-day schedule will see a late free practice on Thursday evening before a busier itinerary on Friday taking in two-and-a-half-hours of practice followed by the grid-determining qualifying session. The eight-hour race starts at 2pm Bahrain time with a total of 24 cars set to compete.

 

Pierre said: “We had a bit of a frustrating end to our 8 Hours of Bahrain last December, despite showing the pace we needed for the podium. I hope we can put things right this time round to end the season in style. There is still a close fight for the championship podium, which gives us a nice incentive. Our performance at Le Mans showed that we have the raw pace and potential in our car, and we have gelled really nicely as a team throughout this long season, so we have all the ingredients. In addition, it will again be necessary to show great discipline to follow the strict rules and protocols, which are in place for all our safety. We want to end a challenging year with a strong result for the entire Signatech Alpine Elf squad.” 

 

 

17h30 Free Practice 1

 

09h00 Free Practice 2

13h45 Free Practice 3

18h30 LMP Qualifying

 

14h00 8 Hours of Bahrain

 

 

1. United Autosports 171 points

2. JOTA 125 points

3. Racing Team Nederland 107 points

4. Cool Racing 103 points

5. Jackie Chan DC Racing 98 points

6. Signatech Alpine Elf 94 points

 

 

1. F. Albuquerque / P. Hanson 171 points

2. P di Resta 156 points

3. A-F Da Costa / R. Gonzalez 125 points

4. A. Davidson 115 points

5. F. van Eerd / G. van der Garde 107 points

6. A. Borga / N. Lapierre 103 points

7. H-P. Tung / W. Stevens 98 points

8. A. Negrao / P. Ragues / T. Laurent 94 points