Big performance from the Alpine A480, winner of the Six Hours of Monza

Enough to erase the frustration of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, concluded with a 23rd place in the scratch classification. What, also, to consolidate the place of leaders in the world championship of the pilots of the Limougeaud Matthieu Vaxiviere, the Nivernais Nicolas Lapierre and the Brazilian Andre Negrao.

It was Matthieu Vaxiviere who took the start in the Alpine seat, in third position behind the Glickenhaus and the Toyota n°8.

The berruyer prototype quickly entered the fight with Toyota. After two race interruptions due to two yellow flags, Alpine chose to adopt a different strategy from Toyota. “We perform well at different parts of the circuit, explained Philippe Sinault, the boss of the Berruyère team. Tire wear is a well-understood subject, we manage to maintain the gap with the Toyota n°8. » Maintain the gap with the n°8 and get closer in the slipstream of the n°7, in second position.

A penalty inflicted on the leader Glickenhaus, a new yellow flag and halfway through the race, after three hours, the Alpine remained third, but this time behind the two Toyotas, the n°7 and the n°8.

For their first official competition, the Peugeot 9X8s were a little behind.

Alpine in the lead two hours from the checkered flag

The Glickenhaus began to smoke a few minutes later and the battle for victory therefore boiled down to a duel between the two Toyotas and the Alpine, then entrusted to the Nivernais driver Nicolas Lapierre. Very competitive on the Italian circuit, the Alpine put pressure on the two Japanese cars.

And ended up passing number 8 in favor of a pit stop. In the game of strategies, after a simultaneous stop with the Toyota n°7, the Berruyère car ended up taking control of the race. There remained then two hours of ordeal.

At 1:30 from the finish, after another simultaneous stop, benefiting the Toyota n°7, the Alpine entrusted to Matthieu Vaxiviere was overtaken by the n°8, regaining third place in the race. But Limougeaud, on the attack, quickly overtook No. 8. The fight for victory was in full swing. The n°7 was then very quickly taken over by the Alpine, in an epic duel which saw the two cars touch each other, causing damage to the Toyota. The Alpine, again, was in the lead. Another hour of effort…

The Alpine was in the lead and, in his seat, Matthieu Vaxiviere resisted Ryo Harakawa in the Toyota n°8. Until the end, the Berruyère team held on. Punctuating a Sunday afternoon which took on the appearance of dolce vita on the Monza circuit.

The Berruyère team won its second success in Hypercar, the premier category of the world endurance championship.

Philippe Baudet