Signatech Alpine Wins Four Hours of Red Bull Ring

Signatech Alpine became the third winner in as many European Le Mans Series races, in an entertaining Four Hours of Red Bull Ring this afternoon.

Oliver Webb in the No. 36 Alpine A450b Nissan passed the pole sitting No. 38 Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN Nissan just after the last round of pit stops and held off Simon Dolan to take the lead and claim the team’s first win of the season.

Webb’s teammate Paul-Loup Chatin had taken the lead after the pit stops in the second hour, but it was Harry Tincknell who passed him after a thrilling battle, with just an hour remaining in the race.

With three-quarters of an hour Tincknell and Chatin handed over to Dolan and Webb, the Alpine driver passed Dolan on track only couple of minutes later. After four hours of racing Webb crossed the line 12.385s ahead of the Jota Sport Zytek.

The No. 34 Race Performance Oreca Judd of Michel Frey and Franck Mailleux finished in third place, 18.772s behind the race winners, with Greaves Motorsport’s Mark Shulzhitskiy and Luciano Bacheta taking fourth after a difficult start of the race.

Newblood by Morand Racing, with local hero Christian Klien finished fifth, two laps down. The team lost valuable time when Pierre Ragues stopped on the pit entry, and again later when Gary Hirsch had to serve a stop-and-go penalty.

Defending ELMS champions Thiriet by TDS Racing retired after suffering a brake disc failure and losing the left rear wheel of the Ligier, when the axle broke.

GTE class honors went to AF Corse’s Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Michele Rugolo, thanks to a pass on the No. 81 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni with just over 30 minutes remaining. JMW Motorsport completed an all-Ferrari podium.

A strong run by Gulf Racing UK went unrewarded. Stuart Hall and Dan Brown led the race, but shortly after Roald Goethe had taken over the wheel of the No. 85 Aston Martin Vantage it dropped out of contention for a podium finished.

Formula Racing was unable to convert its pole position into another race win, instead it was an SMP Racing one-two in Austria. Luca Persiani in the No. 71 SMP Racing Ferrari crossed the line in first place, finishing ahead of teammate David Markozov in the No. 73 Ferrari. AF Corse completed a Ferrari top three with the No. 95 Ferrari.

RESULTS Four Hours of Red Bull Ring