Thiriet by TDS Racing team slowed by debris!

At the free practices, the #46 Oreca 05 Nissan set the 6th quickest time in free practice one before being the fastest at the second one. The next day, Tristan Gommendy put the car at the second row of the starting grid with a time of 1.47.641.
 
Ludovic Badey had a good start and kept his 4th place. To avoid a contact with another car, Ludovic had to go wide at the first corner to avoid the crash. The race director considered that the driver gained places in this and forced him to let the two cars overtake again. Sixth, he quickly gained one position to be 5th until a puncture at the left rear stopped him. He went back to the pits where the analysis of the tyre revealed that the rim was torn . Back on the track in the 11th place, he took the advantage of the pit stops of the other competitors to be back in the 6th place.
 
The Thiriet by TDS Racing team also benefited from the entrance of the safety car after more than one hour of race to change the drivers and narrow the gap. Tristan Gommendy got on the car and went back on track in the 6th place. Very quickly, he was in the pace and caught up the cars ahead until he took the lead at the 63rd lap. Tristan double stinted, kept the lead and went on maintaining the gap with his opponents. At the 86th lap, he went back to the pit and handed over to Pierre Thiriet, in charge of ending the race.
 
In the meanwhile, the technicians checked the tyres used by Tristan and discovered some brake fluid on the left rear rim. Very quickly, the team understood the problem was going to become more serious and asked Pierre to come back to the pit. The issue is only minor; the engineers checked the leak and let Pierre go back to the track.
 
Yet, the deterioration of the brakes became more serious lap after lap so that Pierre was overtaken by another car. He contacted the team by radio and told them he was going to stop at the pit. The verdict was delivered: leak of brake fluid at the brake bleeder. The car was fixed quickly as a flash. Pierre went back to the track in the 7th place with still one hour to go. He set very fast times and could regain one position to finish 6th overall.  
 
Disappointment is huge for the team because it showed once again its faculty to respond to the ordeal and take the lead for a long part of the race. The classification let think the title is still mathematically possible but Thiriet By TDS Racing’s fate is not in its own hands anymore, it rather depends on the result of its most serious competitors at Estoril.
 
Later in the evening, the team learned the leader of the championship and winner of the race received a penalty for non respect of driving time for one driver. It allows the team not to be so far from the leadership of the championship and give hopes for Estoril (Portugal) where the title will be decided at the European Le Mans Series finale on October 18th.

Pierre Thiriet: “This weekend, our pace and the strategy were good. I think that without our problems, a podium was possible and we could fight for the victory. But we had a puncture because of debris at the beginning of the race.  We lost time but victory was still within the reach. Moreover, Jacques Morello’s strategy, our technical director, was rewarded with the safety car. Unfortunately, at the time of the puncture, the brake bleeder was damaged and we started to lose some brake fluid during the race. During my stint, I was forced to stop to put some brake fluid again and repair the brake bleeder. We were not lucky.
I think we still have a chance to grab the title. We will go to Estoril to win the race and then we will see what happens. We have the car and the staff to do it...”