Stevens: Top-Five Was in Cards Before “Frustrating” Penalty

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Will Stevens believes that a top-five finish in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Imola was in the cards for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA if for not receiving a “frustrating” penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement while leading just prior to halfway.

Stevens passed the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Miguel Molina for third and cycled to the front when both James Calado and Brendan Hartley pitted for service and driver changes.

However, just as a second VSC-turned safety car period for Nick Cassidy’s off in the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 came out, both Nicklas Nielsen, then aboard the No. 50 Ferrari, as well as Stevens, were handed drive-through penalties for yellow flag offenses.

“We managed to get the front from making good decisions under VSCs, but the penalty is frustrating because I just didn’t see it [the yellow flag],” said Stevens.

“The penalty came up before the VSC but we argued it because we didn’t know where it had come from.

“There was a small window that we could have taken it before the VSC, which obviously would have been far less punishing. We would have only lost a few places.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it was super-bad timing as we automatically went to the back.

“After that we were always in traffic, always fighting hard.

“When the rain came, Norman was on a double and everyone else was on their first stint so having new tires at that point is much easier to manage slippery conditions. Honestly from there we were on the back foot.”

While the No. 50 Ferrari of Molina, Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco recovered to a sixth place result, Stevens and co-driver Norman Nato finished out of the points in 13th.

When asked where he thinks the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R would have finished without the penalty, Stevens thought a top-five was possible.

“At the end of the day, I think we were fighting Alpine and BMW,” he said. “We were fighting the Alpine in the first stint and we extended by a lap which helped us. I would have said at that point we had the advantage on Alpine and they finished fourth. For sure we were in the fight for a top-five.

“It’s the same old thing. We are disappointed we didn’t score well because we had the opportunity to do so.

“But on the other hand we are encouraged about the progress that we made over the winter to rectify some of our weak points from last year.

“The race to start off with was very positive. We knew this track last year was not one of our good ones and we worked hard to address some of the problems.

“It was very encouraging for us that we understood those and made improvements, and be up the sharp end.

“It’s been a positive week for us in many ways but obviously disappointed for the result because we deserved a lot more.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John