rlex Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 Sébastien Bourdais, Loïc Duval and Tristan Vautier won on the night of Saturday to Sunday one of the biggest American car races. An important victory in more than one way. The last - and only - 100% French victory at Sebring dates back ten years , when Loïc Duval - already him! - Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre had won the classic aboard a Peugeot 908 HDI FAP entered by Oreca. This time, it was not in a French car that they triumphed, but in the No. 5 Cadillac DPi of the Mustang Sampling / JDC-Miller MotorSports team. A deserved victory, but which was obtained at the cost of enormous efforts, after having overcome certain contextual elements that could have led to the tragedy. Indeed, in the last laps, part of the rear spoiler came off, causing the car, victim of an aerodynamic failure, could have crashed at any time. Sébastien Bourdais, who was behind the wheel at the time, skilfully led his car to the checkered flag , relieved to have held up to the shock during those long 20 minutes at the end of the race. “Until then, the car was really good and I thought we would go to the end in a controlled manner,” said le manceau after the finish. “But just after the last pit stop, about 20 minutes from the finish, the upper part of the rear wing came off. At that point I thought I was going to crash into a wall, but I managed to hold the car. I didn't know which piece I had lost, but I quickly saw an impact on behavior. The advantage is that with less aero the car was very fast in a straight line … But I was losing about two seconds on the lap, and it was very, very difficult. But I played with the settings, the balance of the brakes, and I managed to contain the competition. I am really happy and proud of what we have accomplished, for myself and for the whole team. " The race of all dangers It should be recognized that the car, in qualifying as in the race, had not been sufficiently in pace during the first hours of the race. But also that she was the victim of touches, first with Jimmie Johnson, in distress in turn 17, then with Felipe Nasr, at about 8 hours of racing, when Tristan Vautier came out of the pits. The latter was able to start again in 6th position, but one lap behind the leader. “I didn't really understand what happened,” explains the French driver. I was on my line, there was nothing else I could do, then I was thrown against the wall. It took me a few seconds to realize that I could start again, that everything was working. " Then, at the end of the race, it was all of Bourdais' experience and talent that made the difference. After catching up with a good strategy and, it must be said, taking advantage of the neutralizations , Bourdais had taken the lead when the No. 01 Cadillac of Chip Ganassi Racing (with Scott Dixon at the wheel) rubbed shoulders with a BMW M8 GTE. In the end, despite their concern for the aileron, the French crew signed a very fine victory.
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