Car manufacturer Dacia scored the first 1-2 finish of this year's edition of the Andros Trophy ice racing series in the second race of the weekend held Saturday in Lans-en-Vercors, France.
Evens Stievenart, Alain Prost' teammate at Dacia, won both qualifying heats and collected his maiden win of the season. Prost fought hard despite last minute problems on the starting grid of the grand finale.
The four-time Formula 1 World Champion realized that the steering column of his Dacia Lodgy was loose. With no time to do the repairs, Prost took the start despite the problem. He managed to cross the line in second place.
Jean-Baptiste Dubourg, driving a Renault Clio, drove a strong race to finish third ahead of Nicolas Prost on the second Dacia Lodgy.
Dayraut, who dominated the first race of the meeting on Friday, could do no better than sixth place in his MINI, one spot in front of Olivier Panis in his Skoda Fabia. Panis, second on Friday night, saw his engine stall on lap 2 of his qualifying heat, an incident that cost him several places.
Panis' teammate at Skoda, Jacques Villeneuve – who claimed third place Friday – had content himself with 8th place Saturday.
“ I like this bumpy circuit,” said Villeneuve in a Skoda France press release.
“Our car was really good in the fast, twisty section of the track but not so much in the two hairpin corners. I needed to drive very smoothly, which is something I like and suits me well. I made a small driving mistake on the last lap of the last qualifying heat and that probably cost me a podium finish. The team has worked very hard at improving the road handling, and the car is now a bit easier to drive. It can still surprise you once in a while, so you need to stay really focused,” Villeneuve added.
Overall classification of the Andros Trophy after Lans-en-Vercors:
1. Alain Prost, 738 points; 2. Jean-Philippe Dayraut, 738; 3. Benjamin Rivière, 720 ; 4. Olivier Panis, 710 ; ...12. Jacques Villeneuve, 610…
Evens Stievenart, Alain Prost' teammate at Dacia, won both qualifying heats and collected his maiden win of the season. Prost fought hard despite last minute problems on the starting grid of the grand finale.
The four-time Formula 1 World Champion realized that the steering column of his Dacia Lodgy was loose. With no time to do the repairs, Prost took the start despite the problem. He managed to cross the line in second place.
Jean-Baptiste Dubourg, driving a Renault Clio, drove a strong race to finish third ahead of Nicolas Prost on the second Dacia Lodgy.
Dayraut, who dominated the first race of the meeting on Friday, could do no better than sixth place in his MINI, one spot in front of Olivier Panis in his Skoda Fabia. Panis, second on Friday night, saw his engine stall on lap 2 of his qualifying heat, an incident that cost him several places.
Panis' teammate at Skoda, Jacques Villeneuve – who claimed third place Friday – had content himself with 8th place Saturday.
“ I like this bumpy circuit,” said Villeneuve in a Skoda France press release.
“Our car was really good in the fast, twisty section of the track but not so much in the two hairpin corners. I needed to drive very smoothly, which is something I like and suits me well. I made a small driving mistake on the last lap of the last qualifying heat and that probably cost me a podium finish. The team has worked very hard at improving the road handling, and the car is now a bit easier to drive. It can still surprise you once in a while, so you need to stay really focused,” Villeneuve added.
Overall classification of the Andros Trophy after Lans-en-Vercors:
1. Alain Prost, 738 points; 2. Jean-Philippe Dayraut, 738; 3. Benjamin Rivière, 720 ; 4. Olivier Panis, 710 ; ...12. Jacques Villeneuve, 610…