WEC: What the winning drivers said after the 1000 Miles of Sebring
Nicolas Lapierre, No.36 Alpine ELF Team
“It was not easy, but we had good pace and strategy. We knew we had to do one more stop, so we had to push to open the gap.
“It’s great to hear the French anthem on the podium. I mean, the team entered last year for the first season in Hypercar, and it was the first time in the top category for Alpine.
“It’s great reward for the team, and we are working very hard to be competing at this level. So, I’m very pleased for them, and I hope this is just the beginning.”
- Nico Stat: Sebring was his first overall win since Spa 2014!
Michael Christensen, No.92 Porsche GT Team
“First of all, great to be able to get this result. But in general, it was tough just with the strategy and tire management and trying to get ahead of the Corvette again.
“I was just stuck, and you lose grip behind, and it is hard to pass, so we did some fuel saving, and we found our way by, and we could achieve good lap times.
“We just knew we just need to get in front again. And like this, it would be much easier for us to stay ahead and get the win, so I am super happy for the team for this nice start.”
- Michael stat: Christensen now has 8 wins at 8 different circuits in WEC!
Paul di Resta, No.23 United Autosports USA LMP2
“We were on the back foot yesterday with the red flag in qualifying, so we had to fight our way through.
“Track position is a little bit hard this year. It was a 110% push, and it was a bit like a sprint to be honest, but once we managed to away to the front the red flags let people gain a lot of time on us. So, from there it was about managing the gap and do what we could.
“I have to say Josh (Pierson) did an excellent job today, and he did a triple stint on a set of tires, which put us in that position where we knew we were going to be aggressive at the end, and that was kind of key.
“We had to also go out of sync to the sister car to save a lot of fuel just because of the pitstop scenario. All these things are all tried and tested, but we managed to come out of it, and I think we definitely deserved the win based on where we were (on the grid), and it just lifts the team going into the year ahead.”
- Paul stat: Sebring was Di Resta’s 5th win at 5 different circuits in WEC
David Pittard, No.98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin LMGTE Am
“It’s my first time at Sebring and on the bumps and also the first time properly in the Aston Martin Vantage GT.
“I did the rookie test last year, but the Bahrain circuit is slightly different to the old school nature of Sebring. I love these old school circuits and I’m a little bit of a Nordschleife expert, so coming here I think it really suited to me and I feel I jumped on the pace very quickly.
“The Northwest AMR boys gave me an amazing car and probably one of the best race cars I’ve ever driven. Paul (Dalla Lana) did an amazing first stint again and to be fair he did a lot of hard work there and took a lot of the pressure off of me.”
- David stat: First win in WEC
Francois Perrodo, No. 83 AF Corse Oreca-Gibson LMP2 Pro-Am winner
“It’s been a great start of the season, particularly considering that it’s been a really tough beginning from a few months ago because it’s a rookie team in LMP2 with two rookie drivers.
“I did LMP2 but back three years ago, so I was a bit rusty, and on the Saturday morning for the beginning of the prologue, we were still molding our seats. So definitely a tough start but then it really got better.
“A great quali from Nicklas (Nielsen) to put it on pole amongst a sea of really top drivers with lots of experience. Alessio had a great stint as well and I managed to keep it on the back stuff, didn’t do any mistakes but it was really hard for me because I’m not very good with the heat. But a win in Pro/Am so I couldn’t be happier.”
- Stat: AF Corse the 4th team to win in the sub-class