Thiriet by TDS Racing doubled the lead in Austria

Since the first free practices, the # 46 Oreca 05 Nissan was among the front runners. In the session 1, the car was in the 4th place and then, in the second one, Mathias Beche, Pierre Thiriet and Ryo Hirakawa were the fastest on track. During the qualifying session, Mathias set the second fastest time, five hundredths from the pole position. Anyway, it is the third first row of the starting grid in three rounds!

Pierre Thiriet was in charge of the start, after the first corner he was fifth and then very quickly fourth. He kept contact with the three professional drivers ahead of him and even kept pace with them, being four tenths from the fastest laptime. In the game of the pitstops, Pierre finished his amazing first stint as a leader and thanks to an excellent pitstop of the mechanics, he kept his position.

Pierre went on widening the gap with the competitors and was still the fastest of the race. He set the fastest times against drivers with the same status (Silver) as him. However, he was called to the pit earlier than scheduled (after one hour and a half) because one of the headlights did not work anymore. One minute and a half were necessary to change the hood and Ryo Hirakawa went back on the track, fourth, 42 seconds behind the leader.

The Japanese driver showed all the extent of his talent and immediately set excellent laptimes. After only 10 minutes in the car, he was already back in the lead. He went on widening the gap with the other cars and after 50 minutes, he refuelled and gave the wheel to Mathias Beche.

The Swiss went out of the pits in the third place and very quickly, he took the lead. He was fast, very fast on track. At the 119th lap, he set the fastest lap of the car in 1:22.438. After an amazing stint, Mathias stopped for a last pitstop. Having a new problem with the hood, the team was ready to change it again. Pierre Thiriet was back in the car because, according to the rules, he did not drive enough, and crossed the finishing line as a winner almost a minute before the 2nd.

At the end of a great race mastered by the three drivers and with the awesome job of the mechanics, Thiriet by TDS Racing narrowed the gap at the championship with the current leader. Now, only seven points are separating them. The whole team is looking forward to competing again at Le Castellet, on 28th of August.

Mathais Beche: “I would like to thank all the team which did a great job. At Le Mans we had difficult sessions and had to put things right. At Red Bull Ring, we were immediately in the right pace. The mechanics and the engineers were impeccable as usual. Pierre was really strong and Ryo did a good job. It was important to realize and validate the work we have started with the team since the beginning of the season. I had a really good pace and everything was positive this weekend. We are seven points behind the leader of the championship now. Unfortunately, we missed the point of the pole position for nearly nothing but we still keep on fighting. We are going to give everything because we want this title at the end of the season!“

Pierre Thiriet: “I drove a lot during this race because I did not drive long enough during my two first stints. We had to shorten my second stint because we had an issue with the headlight of our front hood. Unfortunately, one minute and a half were needed so I did the stint Mathias should have done at the end. Everything went fine; the car was already in the lead with some minutes ahead. I just finished the work; the car was great, and once again the team did a fantastic job. I now have to improve my starts but I am nevertheless happy of the pace we had during the race. We have a tough opponent at the championship and we have to win each single race. We will fight until the end.“

Ryo Hirakawa: “At the beginning of my stint, I was struggling  to escape from the heavy trafic. Then, with a few more laps, I started to improve my laptimes. I widened the gap. It was a tough race because we had to change the hood twice but the team did very well. This new first place gets us closer to the leader. I will not be at Le Castellet for the next race but someone will replace me.”