Favourites Team Oreca Matmut trio Oliver Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Serrazin steered their Peugeot Hdi FAP to a convincing victory during Saturday evening’s ‘1000Kms do Algarve’ Le Mans Series LMP1 principal race.
The former French Formula One ace led the way home five laps clear of Nicolas Prost/Neel Jani (Lola B10/60) and Pierre Ragues/Franck Mailleux/Vanina Ickx (Lola Aston Martin) in second and third respectively.
Panis, winner of the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, was full of praise for the new Algarve Motor Park circuit.
“The track is simply spectacular and has a magnificent design,” he said. After the race, he added: “We are very satisfied to have achieved this very important task for the team. The contest was demanding, the track difficult, but the result deserved. It was without a doubt our best race.”
On the undercard the Tommy Erdos/Mike Newton/Ben Collins crewed Lola HPD took the LMP2 category, Gabriele Gardel’s Saleen S7-R celebrated LMGT1 success and Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Belo managed to keep their Ferrari F430 GT ahead of high-powered partners Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella in LMGT2.
The next big international event giving its debut at the Parkalgar facility will be the Race of Champions (ROC) Southern Europe Final on August 8 and 9.
The best drivers from the whole spectrum of motor racing, including Pedro Lamy, Johnny Herbert, Dani Sordo, Mick Doohan and Marcus Gronholm, are competing against each other from 8pm that weekend to make what should be a unique Algarve sporting occasion.
Tickets priced between 15 and 25 euros are now available from the usual outlets, at the track box office or via www.rocportugal.com
The former French Formula One ace led the way home five laps clear of Nicolas Prost/Neel Jani (Lola B10/60) and Pierre Ragues/Franck Mailleux/Vanina Ickx (Lola Aston Martin) in second and third respectively.
Panis, winner of the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, was full of praise for the new Algarve Motor Park circuit.
“The track is simply spectacular and has a magnificent design,” he said. After the race, he added: “We are very satisfied to have achieved this very important task for the team. The contest was demanding, the track difficult, but the result deserved. It was without a doubt our best race.”
On the undercard the Tommy Erdos/Mike Newton/Ben Collins crewed Lola HPD took the LMP2 category, Gabriele Gardel’s Saleen S7-R celebrated LMGT1 success and Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Belo managed to keep their Ferrari F430 GT ahead of high-powered partners Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella in LMGT2.
The next big international event giving its debut at the Parkalgar facility will be the Race of Champions (ROC) Southern Europe Final on August 8 and 9.
The best drivers from the whole spectrum of motor racing, including Pedro Lamy, Johnny Herbert, Dani Sordo, Mick Doohan and Marcus Gronholm, are competing against each other from 8pm that weekend to make what should be a unique Algarve sporting occasion.
Tickets priced between 15 and 25 euros are now available from the usual outlets, at the track box office or via www.rocportugal.com
