The best second-place finish of their careers! Eric Trouillet and Luis Sanjuan didn't win, but that's not the point. The Graff N°9 team-mates won the NP02 drivers' title, one month after validating the teams' title. In qualifying, the pairing, accompanied this weekend by Gaël Julien, took pole position. Eric Trouillet put in a solid first stint. Luis Sanjuan followed up well in the middle of the race before handing over to his young team-mate to finish the job. Efficient on the track and impeccable in strategy, Gaël Julien gave everything he had to try and catch the race leader, despite the onset of rain two hours into the race.
Although they fell just 3.415 seconds short of COGEMO N°154, the new champions relished the title. We're simply happy," admitted Luis Sanjuan.We did our job and that's what we had to do. We can be proud of our work. At the foot of the podium, Eric Trouillet was enjoying this " immense joy. It was tense right up to the end, and we even thought we were going for victory! There wasn't much missing. It was great to share it with Gaël for the last one, and David (Droux) who's been with us all season. "
COGEMO enjoyed a magical evening at Paul Ricard on Saturday evening. Runner-up at Hockenheim last July, the N°154 this time claimed the grail. Seventh on the grid, the drivers and team did everything in their power to take the lead under the chequered flag. The 2021 WRC3 World Champion, Yohan Rossel, opened his NP02 victory account and was keen to point out that it was above all " a team victory. "
The rally driver and Jesse Bouhet also supported Marlon Hernandez. Accustomed to driving a Porsche Cup, he couldn't have wished for a better debut at the wheel of a prototype: " It's great! Racing with team-mates is stressful, and I'm not really used to it. We all did a great job, a perfect race. " Winner of the AM category, Denis Caillon and Philippe Thirion's COGEMO N°555 also clinched the NP02 Ultimate title.
MV2S Racing finished third. The N°27 of Christophe Cresp and Pierre-Alexandre Provost returned to the top-3 for the first time since Portimão. The latter's supersonic final stint enabled them to equal their best result of the year. ANS Motorsport N°71 (Karen Gaillard, Marc Faggionato, Iko Segret) just missed the podium again. Thomas Imbourg and Jonathan Thomas (CD Sport N°5) finished fifth.
In contention for the drivers' title, the Graff N°7 (James Winslow, John Corbett) suffered a technical problem, putting an end to their title hopes. Nicolas Maulini (Racing Spirit of Léman) tried his best, but Jacques Wolff's teammate finished tenth in NP02.
The LMP3 title came down to three points. Only fifth in the race, Axel Gnos and Georgios Kolovos (Team Virage N°1) had a tough time of it. Nevertheless, the Swiss and the Greek, accompanied by Sacha Lehmann, salvaged fifth place. A good enough position to secure the drivers' championship.
Second in the race, N°88 (Raphaël Narac, Daniel Macia, Jacek Zielonka) ended the season with 97 points, compared with 100 for the leading men. Despite missing a round, Pedro Perino fell just five points short of the crown. The Portuguese driver had to win and was hoping for a counter-performance from Team Virage to make up for lost time. The driver of the Inter Europol N°34 fulfilled his part of the contract. He was able to count on the support of his team-mates Romain Favre and Dane Arendsen. As at Magny-Cours, the three Silver crews dominated from start to finish to claim a second consecutive win. The N°24 TS Corse (Nathan Kumar, Francesco Simonazzi, Robert Visoiu) took third place.