Realteam Racing becomes LMP2 Pro/Am Endurance World Vice-Champion

Esteban Garcia's team put in a fine performance in Bahrain, finishing second in its class in the last Grand Prix of the season for its first experience in the FIA WEC.

 

Just one week after the penultimate round of the season in Bahrain, the FIA-WEC World Endurance Championship returned to the same Sakhir circuit for its closing Grand Prix in a slightly different format than the previous 6-hour race. Partly run at dusk and ending in the night, this final round took place over 8 hours. 

 

Building on the promising performances of the previous week, Realteam Racing started its Bahraini weekend with the fastest absolute time in the first free practice session on Thursday. This confidence boost was certainly not lost on them the following day as they took pole position in the LMP2 Pro/Am class ahead of Racing Team Nederland, their rivals in the world title race. 

 

Realteam Racing made a strong start to the race and was able to maintain its position at the front of the field in a constant battle with the class leaders. After a very good qualifying session, we were quite confident for the race", says French driver Norman Nato. We tried some things for this 8-hour event. We wanted to improve in some areas compared to the first race here. The car was well set up and balanced." 

 

As a result, the battle with Racing Team Nederland was intense and close until the finish line, which Realteam Racing crossed in 2nd place. "We suffered a bit from the extreme high temperature," continues Normal Nato. It cost us a better place. We finished only a few seconds behind our opponents in an 8-hour race, which is very little!" 

 

Realteam Racing's other French driver, Loïc Duval, echoed him. "We had a great race and it was very close from start to finish with a tiny gap at the checkered flag," notes the Platinum Driver. We were better than our rivals but we were a bit off on pit stops. A loose nut cost us some time. But there's no one to blame, it's motorsport!" 

 

Gentleman Driver and Realteam Racing owner, Esteban Garcia draws a positive balance from his first participation in the World Endurance Championship. Personally, I enjoyed this last race, the best of my season," he says. The championship ended with the two races in Bahrain, where we took 2nd place each time. We finished vice-champions with the title slipping away from us by not much against Racing Team Nederland. Well done to them." 

 

Indeed, the Swiss team was 19 seconds short of winning this final round and beating the holders of the trophy. In the end, the engine problem during the 24 Hours of Le Mans certainly cost us a lot of points to win the title," said Gold Driver Norman Nato. We all did our utmost and didn't give up, but that's the way car racing is. 

 

Loïc Duval also confirms this impression. "There was a little frustration at Le Mans with a mechanical problem that cost us the win", he points out. Then this nut in Bahrain which also handicaps us. But we had a great human adventure. We formed a fine trio of drivers, very solid, with a nice progression of Esteban. We defended our chances for the title until the end. We believed in it until the end!" 

 

With a win in Portugal at the 8 Hours of Portimão and a podium finish at the other five races, Realteam Racing's 2021 season has been a success. "This was our first year in FIA WEC and we had a great progression throughout the season," Esteban Garcia is pleased to say. I wanted to thank all our teams, TDS Racing, our mechanics and our engineers who did a great job. Thanks also to Loïc and Norman for being by my side and with whom we gave everything this season. It's great to finish on the podium in this last race and to finish vice-champions in the LMP2 Pro/Am class!"