You are currently viewing Challenging weekend in Slovakia

For the third round of the Ultimate Cup Series season, the team traveled all the way to the Slovakia Ring. The circuit in the Slovakian countryside with its partly fast, partly technical curves is very much appreciated by many drivers, and for the first time of the season, the race would last for 6 hours.

With Wagg studying for his final exams, Falchero completed the trio in car 94, together with Valenza and Padovani. On the 95, Costa and Cimadomo remained at the wheel, while the team welcomed the 17-year old Polish driver Mateusz Kaprzyk, who drove his first ever car race.

Against all expectations, the sun was shining during the whole weekend, which meant great conditions for the race. The free practice sessions were used for all the drivers to discover the track and ended with the 94 on P6 and the 95 close to the top 10. The qualifying session had a similar scenario, resulting in the 94 starting from the outside of the third row and the 95 from the inside of the 6th row in P11.

During the pre-grid lap, an issue on the 95 caused it to lose the ten first laps of the race. Once the problem was fixed, the first two hours have been completed by Mateusz Kaprzyk, who showed a very good pace and mature consistency. It was a very positive debut for the Pole in the LMP3.

Valenza, on his side, was fighting for the Top 5 on the 94 before handing over the car to Padovani. After having briefly led the race, a drive through and an issue during the pit stop, made them lose precious time. After Falchero set the fastest time of the 94’s race, Padovani crossed the chequered flag in 6th position.

On the 95, both gentlemen drivers Cimadomo and Costa showed good consistency and were close to finishing the race in the top 10, when the left rear wheel got damaged by debris with a few minutes to the end of the race.

Philippe Gautheron – Team Principal : “It’s been a really difficult weekend where we have learned a lot on and off track. The 94 is still second in the championship and the 95 was able to score points again, so after this complicated weekend, there is still something to take out. We are going to have a very animated month of June with the launch of the Aston Martin program and the next LMP3 event at the 4h of Mugello, in which we are expecting to taste champagne again.”