Review: Round 4 – 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
A strong performance by Genesis Magma Racing’s Trajectory Programme drivers went unrewarded at the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps following a post-race penalty that dropped Jamie Chadwick, Mathys Jaubert, Daniel Juncadella and the #18 IDEC Sport-run team from second, to 12th in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS).
Good pace and strategy makes trio contenders for victory
Jamie Chadwick started the car from the sixth position earned by Daniel Juncadella in Saturday’s qualifying session which was run in difficult conditions, with circuit drying throughout. Happily, the changeable weather that the Ardennes circuit is famous for was gone for Sunday, with the team hoping to use the strong pace they showed in the dry practice sessions in the race.
The wish quickly became reality, as Chadwick made up a place in the early laps. She finished her stint in eighth after nearly two hours in the car. However, the relative loss of position was due to strategy decisions during the Safety Cars and Full Course Yellows, rather than Chadwick herself who was able to make up a place at La Source late in her stint.
Completing the driver change pitstop to install Juncadella under Safety Car allowed the team to make up further positions. Furthermore, the choice to short fuel the Spaniard through to the end of his stint before providing new tyres and a full fuel load to Mathys Jaubert when he climbed aboard for the final hour lifted the team to second, seven seconds behind the leader.
Penalty does nothing to lessen positives from drivers’ performance
Jaubert closed the gap, coming to within three seconds as the lead gap flexed as the top drivers passed through bundles of slower-class traffic. The Frenchman pitted for the final time with 25 minutes remaining – the team making a final strategy call to take only fuel in anticipation of continuing the chase in the final stint. However, an unfortunate Full Course Yellow seconds after the team’s service handed the advantage to their rivals. Jaubert was again able to make up time on the driver ahead as he crossed the line second, ten seconds behind the leader.
Post-race, the team were demoted to 19th overall by a three-minute penalty after it was deemed the car pitted seconds during a Full Course Yellow – when the pitlane is closed – during the race. The misjudgement did little to provide an advantage on track. The IDEC Sport team will take time after the weekend to assess the decision.
Though the result is a significant blow to the team’s ELMS title aspirations, it does not take away from the team and each driver’s individual performance, nor their continued gaining of experience in Prototype competition – the main aim of the season in the championship with the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Programme.
Post Race Quotes – #18 IDEC Sport Oreca 07
Jamie Chadwick said: “My stint was quite messy from a strategy point of view, with Virtual Safety Cars, Safety Cars and Full Course Yellows at random times. We put Mathieu [Leroy, the team’s Race Engineer] to work, trying to get a bit creative with when to pit, when to take tyres and my driving time. We had a good first few laps, got to fifth place, and the pace was good enough to hold the position – maybe good enough to challenge the leaders, but still in a good spot. I'm getting more comfortable with the traffic, but there’s always unknown things that I go into every race, which is an enjoyable thing.”
Daniel Juncadella said: “I had lot of fun out there. Jamie did a great job at the beginning of staying out of trouble. I was able to make some overtakes on the way to second where I gave the car to Mathys. Obviously, we got some luck with the Full Course Yellow which helped, but the car felt nice. I was still using the tyres from Jamie’s stint, so they already had some laps on them, and I had to use them for two stints, so I had to manage them a bit, but it was still nice.”
Mathys Jaubert said: “I took over the car in the perfect position in P2, right behind the leader. The car felt very good, the balance was great, and we were very fast. I was pushing through the whole stint, right until the final lap. Even when you are ten seconds behind you need to push in case the leader makes a mistake, so I was going as hard as I could. I was able to catch him through the traffic when I was faster. We got unlucky with the final Full Course Yellow ending when I was on the straight and we lost some time there, but we still crossed the line second and were only told about the penalty at the podium.”
Genesis Magma Racing Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul said:
The result at Spa-Francorchamps is, of course, frustrating and does not reflect the performance of drivers and team this weekend. It is a shame to have the positives taken away by a relatively small misjudgment that comes with a heavy penalty. However, learning how we can succeed in endurance racing was a key aim for this year with the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Programme, and we can take the lessons of risk and reward in strategy away from the weekend. The performances of Jamie Chadwick, Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella show the benefit of their experience in Prototypes compared to the start of the season, even if we can’t celebrate this on the podium.
