User:SmackJam/sandbox/2020 BNP Paribas 240

The 2020 BNP Paribas 240 was the first round of the 2020 Championnat AXA Alpine season and the inaugural race of the series. It took place at Circuit Paul Ricard on July 24th, 2020.

The Circuit Paul Ricard, where the race was held

Background

The race marked the first event of the newly-formed Championnat AXA Alpine, a multi-class one-make event for Alpine cars. The race date was announced just four days prior, hence the low number of foreign entries into the race. Alpine, despite running exclusively their automobiles in the series, only sponsored one factory team, the Signatech team with two entries.

Entry list

The race drew nineteen entries, six in the LMP class, five in GT, and eight in the Production class. Only four cars were fielded with manufacturer support, the two Signatech LMPs which were supported by Alpine themselves, and the Renault LMP entries, of course fielded by Renault. The field was littered with both professional and amateur talent, with drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo, Patrick Pilet, and former IndyCar driver Sébastien Bourdais spread across the three classes.

Qualifying

Qualifying was commenced through a random drawing of lots, with entries being seeded by class. The #36 Signatech entry drew the overall pole, while the #31 Renault drew second overall. Alexandre Prémat drew pole in the GT class, while the Equipe Vitesse #98 took pole in the Production class.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold.

Pos.	Class	No.	Entry	Driver	Time	Grid
1	LMP	36	Signatech Alpine	Nicolas Lapierre	—	1
2	LMP	31	Renault DP World Team	Daniel Ricciardo	—	2
3	LMP	35	Signatech Alpine	Pierre Ragues	—	3
4	LMP	48	IDEC Sport	Paul-Loup Chatin	—	4
5	LMP	3	Renault DP World Team	Guanyu Zhou	—	5
6	LMP	28	TDS Racing	Loïc Duval	—	6
7	GT	18	Team Prémat	Alexandre Prémat	—	7
8	GT	76	IMSA Performance	Jean-Karl Vernay	—	8
9	GT	50	Larbre Compétition	Erwin Creed	—	9
10	GT	23	Panis-Barthez Compétition	Julien Canal	—	10
11	GT	75	IMSA Performance	Patrick Pilet	—	11
12	PRO	10	Course de Dragon	Frédéric Rochette	—	12
13	PRO	98	Equipe Vitesse	Dany Courtial	—	13
14	PRO	90	Silvestre Compétition	Cyril Silvestre	—	14
15	PRO	85	JDC MotorSports	Tristan Vautier	—	15
16	PRO	99	Equipe Vitesse	Veronique Bourdon	—	16
17	PRO	52	OAK Racing	Gabriel Aubry	—	17
18	PRO	1	Course de Dragon	Patrick Ponce	—	18
19	PRO	46	Graff Racing	Olivier Pla	—	19

Race report

The race began around 16:00 (4:00 PM) local time, and the #31 took the lead entering turn one. Ten minutes into the race, the Production class pole-sitter retired with engine issues. The reliability of Production cars, specifically the A310s, was further called into question not fifteen minutes later, when the #98 of Dany Courtial was forced to pit with mechanical issues. Positions stabilized for a while thereafter, with Ricciardo holding on overall. Just over an hour in, however, Pierre Ragues grabbed the lead after outbraking Ricciardo in turn eight. Coming into turn one the subsequent lap, Ricciardo locked up his tires and ran into Ragues, further collecting the #76 IMSA Performance GT entry. All three cars were forced to retire from the race as a result of damage from the accident. The #3 Renault, who inherited the lead after the crash, held the lead for the next 20 minutes, but relinquished it after a difficult driver change and pit stop. Pierre Thiriet held the lead the remainder of the race. 45 minutes into the second hour, Kévin Estre took over the GT class lead after a battle with Will Stevens, and he would go onto hold that lead to the end. Sébastien Bourdais and Nicolas Minassian fought for the PRO lead to the bitter end, only separated by two tenths of a second at the line.

Results

Pos	Class	No.	Team / Entrant	Drivers	Chassis / Car	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	LMP	36	Signatech Alpine	Nicolas Lapierre Pierre Thiriet	Alpine A470	95	2:41:01.754
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
2	LMP	3	Renault DP World Team	Sergey Sirotkin Guanyu Zhou	Alpine A470	95	+3.672
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
3	LMP	28	TDS Racing	Loïc Duval François Perrodo	Alpine A450	93	+2 laps
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
4	LMP	48	IDEC Sport	Paul-Loup Chatin Paul Lafargue	Alpine A450	92	+3 laps
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
5	GT	75	IMSA Performance	Kévin Estre Patrick Pilet	Alpine A110 GT4	81	+14 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
6	GT	50	Larbre Compétition	Erwin Creed Romano Ricci	Alpine A110 GT4	81	+14 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
7	GT	23	Panis-Barthez Compétition	Julien Canal Will Stevens	Alpine A110 GT4	81	+14 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
8	GT	18	Team Prémat	Alexandre Prémat Stephen Vajda	Alpine A110 GT4	72	+23 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
9	PRO	85	JDC MotorSports	Sébastien Bourdais Tristan Vautier	Alpine A110	67	+28 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
10	PRO	46	Graff Racing	Olivier Pla Nicolas Minassian	Alpine A110	67	+28 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
11	PRO	52	OAK Racing	Gabriel Aubry Enzo Guibbert	Alpine A110	67	+28 laps
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
12	PRO	1	Course de Dragon	Patrick Ponce Paul Girardot	Alpine A110 1600S	64	+31 laps
					Renault Cléon-Alu 1.6L I4
13	PRO	99	Equipe Vitesse	Renée Neri Veronique Bourdon	Alpine A310 V6	56	+39 laps
					2664cc PRV V6
14	PRO	90	Silvestre Compétition	Cyril Silvestre Dimitri Silvestre	Alpine A310 V6	56	+39 laps
					2664cc PRV V6
15 DNF	LMP	35	Signatech Alpine	Pierre Ragues Nelson Panciatici	Alpine A470	35	Crash
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
16 DNF	LMP	31	Renault DP World Team	Daniel Ricciardo Esteban Ocon	Alpine A470	35	Crash
					Gibson GK428 4.2L V8
17	PRO	98	Equipe Vitesse	Dany Courtial Davy Bonnel	Alpine A310 V6	35	+60 laps
					2664cc PRV V6
18 DNF	GT	76	IMSA Performance	Jean-Karl Vernay Raymond Narac	Alpine A110 GT4	29	Suspension
					Renault TCe M5P 1.8L I4
19 DNF	PRO	10	Course de Dragon	Frédéric Rochette Christian Picard	Alpine A310 V6	4	Engine
					2664cc PRV V6