Photo : DPPI - Clément Marin

 

 Despite this disappointing end to the season for the G-Drive Racing team, the trio of Roman Rusinov, Olivier Pla and Julien Canal have had quite a strong and successful year. Racing with two different Onroak Automotive chassis, the Morgan-Nissan LM P2 and the Ligier JS P2-Nissan, both shod on Dunlop tyres, they won 7 out of the 8 possible pole positions, only missing out at Spa, and stood on the top of the podium at Silverstone, Spa, Fuji and Shanghai.

Here in Sao Paolo, the Ligier JS P2-Nissan started on pole for the final and deciding race of the season. Olivier Pla had set the LM P2 fastest time of the weekend so far with a record lap of 1:24.173, which, combined with Roman Rusinov’s quick times, was enough to put them in first place on the LM P2 grid. With the times of the rest of the LM P2 grid all within one second, it looked to be a close race.

Olivier Pla took the start of the Sao Paulo 6 Hours in the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2-Nissan. Bothered by a struggling LM P1, he didn’t want to take any risks, which caused him to fall down to 4th, but with both of the SMP cars needing to pit early, he quickly regained positions and made it back into 2nd. Once there, he quickly made up lost time and caught up to the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan. Being the fastest LM P2 car out there, with his best lap time of 1:24.916, a time that wasn't improved on by his rivals during the race, Pla kept first place even after the pit stops. But, one hour in, the car suffered a mechanical failure and went off track, crashing into the wall at the end of the straight. The front right of the car was heavily damaged, and the car was towed off the track, bringing out the Full Course Yellow. Luckily, Pla was unhurt.

The heavily damaged car couldn't rejoin the pits during the race and the team will have to proceed to an in-depth investigation later on to determine the exact nature of the mechanical problem.

Olivier Pla: “ It breaks your heart to lose the championship like this. Sadly, something broke at a moment when it shouldn’t have, because if it had happened elsewhere on the track, I would have been able to bring the car back without any problems. There, I couldn’t do anything. It was instantaneous and the wall at that spot is very close. It’s not really what we deserve, having got seven pole positions and won four races. We should have won others too, and especially this one, as we were above the rest of the pack once again. The car was fantastic to drive up until that moment, and I’m really disappointed for the whole team, and also my team-mates who have done exceptional work with me this year. It’s hard to accept, but unfortunately, that’s how it goes. It’s part of motorsport. You have to accept it, there’s no other option. A big thank you to the team.”

Julien Canal: “Of course I’m disappointed with this race and for the championship. I think that we really deserved to win this championship. We proved our speed. At least for me, it’s been quite an exceptional first year in LM P2, even with this bit of disappointment at the end. We managed to prove that we were very quick and consistent. I’ve also met some really great people, and I’m only going to take home good memories with me. I really want to thank Olivier, Roman and the whole team for accepting me and for having brought me so much which helped us get these four victories, and I hope that I’ll be able to join the team again next year. ”

Philippe Dumas, Team Principal: “Motorsport is quite an unforgiving sport. We had a lot of hope going into this race because we’ve developed an excellent car, and I was convinced that on this type of circuit, it would be invincible. The mechanics of the car decided otherwise, at the worst time and place. It’s quite an unlucky series of events for us, between here in Brazil and Le Mans, where we couldn’t bring the car back to the pits and we lost out on a lot of points. We’re going to analyse all of this back at the workshop and come back even more reliable and competitive next year.
It’s been a good season despite everything. We’ve been competitive, we’ve had some good times together, and we had a trio of extra-powerful drivers who have progressed and who also got along very well together. Julien did a great job as a silver driver and there’s nothing to add about his season. Roman was exemplary, he didn’t make any mistakes and was very competitive, during the races and in qualifying. And for Olivier, everyone recognises his talent. Luckily, he’s doing ok, despite a very big hit where the car went from 230 km/h to 0. It’s also proves that the necessary safety was in place. However, I would have preferred to do a real life crash test under different circumstances! ”

Onroak Press release