User:SmackJam/sandbox/2020 90 Minutes at Magny-Cours

The 2020 90 Minutes at Magny-Cours was the second round of the 2020 Championnat AXA Alpine season. It took place at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours on July 27th, 2020.

The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, where the race was held

Background

The race was seen as the biggest test of the reliability of the new competition, especially as the circuit was located in a remote location with few accomodations, a key issue in the removal of Magny-Cours from the Formula One schedule. The race date was announced the day after that of the first round at Paul Ricard, leaving slightly more time for entrants to enter. Alpine, once again, entered their same two LMP entries with Signatech.

Entry list

The race drew seventeen entries, the same six in the LMP class, three in GT, and eight in Production. Due to the quick turnaround from the Paul Ricard round, several entries which suffered mechanical issues there dropped out of the Magny-Cours round. Both IMSA Performance and Team Prémat dropped an entry, as did Course de Dragon and Equipe Vitesse. The round marked two new entries, an A110 1600S by the Magny-Cours based Mécanique team, alongside an A310 1600VE from Mountain Racing of Monaco.

Qualifying

As standard in the series, qualifying was commenced through a random drawing of lots, with entries once again being seeded by class. Signatech once again drew the pole, this time with the #35, while Renault drew second with the #31 for the second consecutive round. Panis-Barthez Compétition drew pole in GT, and the Equipe Vitesse #99 drew pole in Production. The race winning cars at Paul Ricard in GT and Production both drew last place in class to start.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold.

Pos.	Class	No.	Entry	Driver	Time	Grid
1	LMP	35	Signatech Alpine	Nelson Panciatici	—	1
2	LMP	31	Renault DP World Team	Esteban Ocon	—	2
3	LMP	3	Renault DP World Team	Esteban Ocon	—	3
4	LMP	36	Signatech Alpine	Pierre Thiriet	—	4
5	LMP	28	TDS Racing	François Perrodo	—	5
6	LMP	48	IDEC Sport	Paul Lafargue	—	6
7	GT	23	Panis-Barthez Compétition	Will Stevens	—	7
8	GT	50	Larbre Compétition	Romano Ricci	—	8
9	GT	75	IMSA Performance	Kévin Estre	—	9
10	PRO	99	Equipe Vitesse	Renée Neri	—	10
11	PRO	1	Course de Dragon	Paul Girardot	—	11
12	PRO	52	OAK Racing	Enzo Guibbert	—	12
13	PRO	7	Mécanique Alpine de Magny-Cours	Aaron Gauthier	—	13
14	PRO	46	Graff Racing	Nicolas Minassian	—	14
15	PRO	90	Silvestre Compétition	Dimitri Silvestre	—	15
16	PRO	2	Mountain Racing	Maximilien Bourcier	—	16
17	PRO	85	JDC MotorSports	Sébastien Bourdais	—	17

Race report

The race began as advertised, at 22:00 (10:00 PM) local time, with the #35 Signatech entry on the pole. The #1 A110 1600S of Paul Girardot, against the odds, led the first lap in GT after a slight change to the BOP following a one-sided affair at Paul Ricard. This would prove to be somewhat of a fluke, as the two new-era A110s that finished the race were both a lap ahead of the older A110 entries. Generally speaking, the Production class cars were much more reliable this time around, with the only mechanical issue being a battery failure for the Mountain Racing entry. This didn't cause them to retire, but they fell well off the pace after a 20+ minute stint in the garage. Just over a half hour into the race, the #46 Graff Racing A110 would suffer a punctured right front tire, which subsequently exploded on its way to the pits, causing the team to retire the car, citing major suspension damage as the cause. Meanwhile, Enzo Guibbert had built a thirty second lead over Tristan Vautier in the Production class, a lead which wouldn't suffer any blows throughout the remainder of the contest. Shortly thereafter, Daniel Ricciardo took the overall lead from the Signatech car. He would also hold onto the lead, taking the overall win at the end of the night. The other Renault entry retired after just under an hour after issues with the fuel line. With twenty minutes to go, another LMP entry saw a mechanical failure, as the TDS Racing #28 suffered gearbox problems. The race for the win in GT came down to the final lap, and Patrick Pilet was able to snag IMSA Performance's second consecutive victory after getting by Enzo Guibbert at Adelaide.

Results

Pos	Class	No.	Team / Entrant	Drivers	Chassis / Car	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	LMP	31	Renault DP World Team	Daniel Ricciardo Esteban Ocon	Alpine A470	64	1:30:55:631
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
2	LMP	36	Signatech Alpine	Nicolas Lapierre Pierre Thiriet	Alpine A470	64	+1.638
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
3	LMP	35	Signatech Alpine	Pierre Ragues Nelson Panciatici	Alpine A470	64	+4.303
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
4	LMP	48	IDEC Sport	Paul-Loup Chatin Paul Lafargue	Alpine A450	63	+1 lap
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
5	GT	75	IMSA Performance	Kévin Estre Patrick Pilet	Alpine A110 GT4	55	+9 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
6	GT	23	Panis-Barthez Compétition	Julien Canal Will Stevens	Alpine A110 GT4	55	+9 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
7	GT	50	Larbre Compétition	Erwin Creed Romano Ricci	Alpine A110 GT4	55	+9 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
8 DNF	LMP	28	TDS Racing	Loïc Duval François Perrodo	Alpine A450	49	Gearbox
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
9	PRO	52	OAK Racing	Gabriel Aubry Enzo Guibbert	Alpine A110	46	+18 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
10	PRO	85	JDC MotorSports	Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier	Alpine A110	46	+18 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
11	PRO	1	Course de Dragon	Patrick Ponce Paul Girardot	Alpine A110 1600S	45	+19 laps
					Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
12	PRO	7	Mécanique Alpine de Magny-Cours	Benoît Delafose Aaron Gauthier	Alpine A110 1600S	45	+19 laps
					Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
13	PRO	99	Equipe Vitesse	Renée Neri Veronique Bourdon	Alpine A310 V6	39	+25 laps
					2664cc PRV V6
14	PRO	90	Silvestre Compétition	Cyril Silvestre Dimitri Silvestre	Alpine A310 V6	38	+26 laps
					2664cc PRV V6
15 DNF	LMP	3	Renault DP World Team	Sergey Sirotkin Guanyu Zhou	Alpine A470	35	Fuel Line
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
16	PRO	2	Mountain Racing	Daniel Bruneau Maximilien Bourcier	Alpine A310 1600VE	25	+39 laps
					Renault Cléon-Alu 1605cc I4
17 DNF	PRO	46	Graff Racing	Olivier Pla Nicolas Minassian	Alpine A110	15	Suspension
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4