Engaged in the second race of the season in the ELMS, Théo Pourchaire from Grasse experienced a complicated weekend at Le Castellet.
At home, Théo Pourchaire and his teammates in car No. 25 did not have an ideal weekend. Fifth in their LMP2 category for the opening round in Barcelona last month, the trio couldn’t find enough performance to compete for top positions. Whether during practice or qualifying, the Portuguese prototypes from Algarve Pro Racing never managed to come close to the times of the leaders. This was echoed by Théo Pourchaire after securing ninth place in qualifying: “this is not the result we were hoping for. We made a strategic error in tire management. That’s how it is, we tried. Ending up ninth isn’t too bad, especially in an endurance race. We will have four hours to make up ground, and rain is expected, so it’s going to be interesting. We’ll work to do things right tomorrow.”
And the next day, the rain was indeed present at noon on the circuit at Le Castellet at the start of the race. On a tricky track, it was Swiss driver Matthias Kaiser who started for the team. On wet tires, he made the best start and found himself in second place at the end of the first lap. After an initial Safety Car, car No. 25 even managed to take the lead following a bold move. The rain intensified in some parts of the circuit, allowing the Algarve Pro Racing team car to pull away.
An almost perfect strategy
But after only 25 minutes of racing, Matthias Kaiser had to pit for fuel, losing the advantage of the good strategic move. The car returned to the track in third place, 20 seconds behind the leader, starting a slow descent in the rankings. After just over an hour of racing, the prototype found itself off the podium but remained in contact.
After the second round of pit stops, Théo Pourchaire took over in fifth place in very challenging conditions. Lacking pace, the driver from Grasse fell back in the rankings to stabilize in eighth place. After two hours of racing, the track began to dry, and some teams anticipated the switch to slick tires. Théo Pourchaire remained on track for a few more laps before pitting while keeping his wet tires. Fifth with 1 hour and 30 minutes before the end of the race, he fought to maintain his position but seemed much slower than his rivals, who had less worn tires.
A few minutes later, Théo Pourchaire handed over to Lorenzo Fluxà. Thirteenth overall, 8th in the LMP2 ranking, car No. 25 would not climb back. The Algarve Pro Racing team finished their weekend in 14th place. A disappointing performance that needs to be put aside.
Next event for Théo Pourchaire and his team, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on the weekend of June 15th.
