DUQUEINE Team kicked off its ELMS season this weekend in Barcelona, with drivers Neel Jani, René Binder and Nicolas Pino, with a promising first race.
The two-day prologue showed the strong pace of the No. 30, with impressive performances from both car and drivers. In qualifying, Neel Jani set a remarkable time, giving the team provisional pole before finally starting third on the grid, thanks to a well-executed team strategy.
The start of the race on Sunday saw René Binder take the wheel and avoid the pitfalls of the start, before getting stuck in traffic and dropping back to fifth. However, he quickly regained his position and finished his stint in second place, handing over the wheel to Nicolas Pino. The 18-year-old Chilean driver put in an impressive first drive, where he led the race for the majority of his run. Neel Jani then took the wheel to finish the race. The battle raged on in the second half of his run, but damages caused while driving over rubble penalized him from fighting to the end for the win.
DUQUEINE Team thus concluded its week-end with a win in category LMP2 and a second place overall.This promising results is very encouraging for the rest of the season, especially for the 24h of Le Mans. The Alesian team is ready to pursuit its success and keep proudly representing its colors.
"Mission accomplished!
We knew, our package was a lot more competitive this year, but to start our 2023 campaign with a commanding victory in the LMP2 Pro-Class is definitely something special.
We have a bunch of very professional young people at DUQUEINE and I also want to take the opportunity to thank our team principal Gilles Duqueine who has put so much energy and money in this program. It's an honor to claim the first victory in LMP2 for his team and I hope it wasn't the last one in this season."
René BINDER
“What a great start to the season with a class victory and second overall.
We were clearly the underdogs but we showed already at the first race that the Duqueine Team means business this year!
It was not an easy race for us, as we suffered severe damage on the underfloor and overheating brakes from mid race onwards and it was not always clear if we can finish the race.
I am super happy for the whole team that worked hard over winter. They really deserved this result and I am sure the taste of victory will create even more motivation to go against the big boys in FIA WEC at the 24h of Le Mans”
Neel JANI
This was a very good way to start the season that showed that all the hard work that we have been doing in the past months has been done well.
The team did a very good job during the whole weekend, managed to do a clean race and push on the right moments. It is now time to regroup and keep working hard to prepare the big one, the Le Mans 24h."
Nicolas PINO