Podium promise kept
11 July 2021
Before the race, Mattia Pasini promised the team to be on the podium. And with his teammates Martin Hippe and Ugo de Wilde, he kept his promise. The #13 Ligier LMP3 of the Inter Europol Competition team took the last place on the podium on the last lap of the race. The #14 sister car with Erwin Creed, Mateusz Kaprzyk and Marius Zug finished the fourth race of the European Le Mans Series in Monza, in seventh position.
#13 Mattia Pasini: ?I promised to be on the podium on Sunday in my new race suit and my teammates and I delivered. We were a bit unlucky in our strategy and the full course yellows. You cannot believe how happy I am to be on the podium on Monza. I want to keep improving and have many more great Sundays and podium finishes.?
#13 Ugo de Wilde: ?For the first time, I did a double stint, which is quite physical and also hard in the mind to stay focused for this long a time. But for I felt I managed it well. The track was getting very dirty towards the end of the race and it made the car a bit unstable, but I managed to do a good job. We can be very happy with the performance of the team.?
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#13 Martin Hippe: ?I had a good start from second place and could overtake the first LMP3 in the first corner. Then my stint was a bit uneventful till the safety car came. A bit of confusion at the restart with the P2 cars entering the pit lane slowly, caused me to lose first place. After the pitstop Mattia and Ugo did a good job to bring the car home in third place to get the second podium of the year. Still room for improvement, but we are on the right way.?
Sascha Fassbender, team manager: ?It is a good result for the team. Due to the full course yellow in the last hour of the race, as we could not fight for the win anymore. For Mattia to be on the podium in Italy was special. In the #14 we had two new drivers (Creed and Zug) who all did a very good job. Once again, we showed we are a very competitive team. And at the next race we will give it our all again.?
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#14 Marius Zug: ?It was a big learning curve between Thursday and Sunday afternoon. It was the first time for me in an LMP3 and honestly, I did not expect anything this weekend, so seventh place is pretty good. I now want more! A big thanks to the team for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.?
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#14 Erwin Creed: ?It was thinking it was probably going to be one of my last races, but I might have to come back one more time. Just because I was a bit disappointed in myself. I had cramp in my leg and had to come in and let Mateusz Kaprzyk take over. Fortunately, it got better and I was able to do the second part of my stint. I did enjoy sharing the car with my two young and quick teammates. A big thanks to the team for giving us a very good car.?
Mateusz Kaprzyk: ?It was a very interesting race, with a lot accidents happening and full course yellows and safety cars. The set-up of the car was very good, and I enjoyed sharing the car with my teammates. I am a happy and look forward to the next race.?