Alpine remain positive despite “frustrating” missed win at Fuji
One hour left of the race it claimed its maiden win at a year earlier, the Alpine A424 was the favourite to win the 6 Hours of Fuji for the second time. A safety car came out and the French strategy team were forced to make a difficult decision: keep track position or pit for new tyres?
The No.36 Alpine dropped to third when the latter option was chosen, but Victor Martins was only able to recover to second place and missed the opportunity to give Alpine their second win in the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
The No.36 took pole in an unconventional way. The rain fell on Saturday morning and qualifying was cancelled when Francois Heriau crashed the No.21 LMGT3 Ferrari on his first lap. The grid was decided from each car’s fastest lap across all three practice sessions and the No.36 Alpine took the honours thanks to Martins' pace in FP2.
Regardless of the cancelled qualifying session, Martins’ still thought he earnt pole, he said: “Even though qualifying was cancelled, I think we still deserve pole, because we have done a good job since the beginning of the weekend.”
Martins' teammate, Joules Gounon, started the race, defending first place from the sister Alpine, which locked out the front row. The No.36 was a deserving leader for the first half of the race, constantly pulling out a lead then getting drawn back in by safety cars.
As the fourth and fifth hour came round, the No.007 Aston Martin was starting to challenge the Alpines but was eliminated from the fight when Tom Gamble crossed the white line on pit entry and was punished with a drive through.
The Alpines traded positions as the No.36 Alpine struggled with a lack of grip, but it still retained the lead in the fifth hour when Joules Gounon re-took the wheel and escaped the pits before the No.35.
When there was less than an hour remaining the No.58 McLaren LMGT3 induced a safety car when it hit the wall hard at the end of the pit straight. Alpine were running one-two and chose to pit both cars for fresh tyres. They exited the pits in third and fourth, led by the No.35.
The green flag fell once again with 20 minutes to go. The No.36 was immediately handed third place by its teammate, then chased and overtook Dries Vanthoor's No.15 BMW. Unfortunately for the Enstone based team, Martins' was unable to overtake the No.8 Toyota before the chequered flag, so the car missed out on a win that had seemed likely an hour earlier.
Ryo Hirakawa piloted the No.8 Toyota to the win. Vanthoor crossed the line in third place, behind the No.36 Alpine, the No.35 held onto fourth place and the No.38 Cadillac rounded out the top five.
Despite missing out on a great result, both drivers stayed positive. Martins' said: "Second place and a podium is a strong result after an amazing race. With 50 minutes remaining, we were running first and second, which shows how well the team executed everything operationally.
"The final Safety Car did not fall our way. With both cars at the front, it was difficult to take a different gamble on either one. I had to fight back after our last stop, but the A424 was extremely quick throughout the weekend.
"Under these circumstances, I think we made the most of the situation and maximised everything we had.”
Gounon's mindset was no different: "We have mixed feelings today. We led for most of the race, but the final pit stop required a difficult choice that ultimately changed the outcome.
"Nevertheless, second and fourth is a strong result for the team. After running at the front for so long, we really wanted the victory, so missing out is frustrating. That is racing, and I want to thank the entire team for its tremendous work."
For Toyota, the points from the result put them second in the Championship, trailing only the sister car. Martins' and Gounon are well out the Championship fight, so losing the win was more about what it would have resembled than a points loss.
Neither driver has won a race in the WEC before and their careers are uncertain as the Alpine Hypercar team is up for sale. Chinese manufacturer, Geely, is in talks with Alpine to acquire the team's assets to re-design and race the A424 next year, however a decision is yet to be made public.
Regardless of finishing first or second, this was Alpine's biggest points haul since the project started in 2024 and taking two podiums in the last two rounds should prove to be good marketing for their negotiations.
Alpine Endurance Team Sporting Director, Nicolas Lapierre does not regret the decision to pit both cars as it was justified with the aim of protecting a strong result: "We were in contention to win for five hours, but the final Safety Car presented us with a difficult choice.
"We could service both cars together and accept losing time, or sacrifice one to maximise the other's chance of victory. I made the decision to protect the overall team result, and I stand by it. Second and fourth brought us more points, but likely cost us the win.
"It is particularly tough for the No.36, which deserved that victory, but the choice was made in the best interests of the entire team."
The Team Principal, Philippe Sinault, compared Alpine's previous couple of results to the performance they are used to: "After being disappointed with third and fifth in Austin, feeling the same about second and fourth today is a positive sign. We are building a real momentum and will be ready to fight again in Barcelona."
Alpine are looking to finish their time in the WEC on a high. The penultimate race will take place on the 18th October at Barcelona, lasting six hours, and the season will conclude at the 6 Hours of Monza on the 8th November.
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