Former Formula 1 driver Mick Schumacher thought Alpine would not have the opportunity to score the podium at the start of Sunday’s World Endurance Championship race at Imola.
Schumacher, Jules Gounon and Frederic Makowiecki led the #36 Alpine A424 LMDH to third place, leading the six-hour Imola results, and just 12 seconds behind James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazi of the #51 Ferrari 499p LMH.
This was the second podium in the hypercar of the A424 program after Schumacher and his then church members Nicholas Lapierre and Matieu Vaccivière finished third in Fuji in six hours last year.
The strategy played a key role in the #36 Alpine rise from the sixth on the grid, combining Michelin soft tires with shorter fuel stops later in the race.
Schumacher was pleased with the results and felt that the top three results weren’t in the car after Makoviekki made minor contact with the sister #35 entry driven by Jules Gnon on the first lap of the race.
“It was a great race and I’m really pleased with the end result,” German said.
“The most important thing is to get back to good results, and our strategy is important today and has helped a little from some of the incidents.
“We can stop doing something that we didn’t initially believe was completely impossible and be proud of the progress we have made.
“Let’s continue to work hard to build on this momentum in Spa and Le Mans.”
The two alpine prototypes dropped to 7th and 8th place at the start of the race, but the #36 A424 gradually began climbing orders to get onto the podium.
Schumacher entered the pit at his final hour, leaving only 35 minutes left. That means Alpine was able to get him back on track after a relatively short fuel stop.
A full tank of fuel usually requires an hour’s worth of green flag running.
Alpine Team Principal Philippe Sinault said “everything fell properly” after choosing a “active” strategy on the #36 A424.
“We decided to demonstrate progress in understanding cars. This race shows that small mistakes can be costly in pure sprints, especially on circuits where track position is very important,” Sinault says.
“In the first few hours, we didn’t go as we wanted.
“We went back to competition by picking softer tires on increasingly cool trucks, and finally we chose different strategies to cover all the scenarios.
“We were offensive in car #36. We were in favor of two short stints, not one long, but rather something very short at the end of the race.
“It all fell into place and we were able to push without compromising the tires. It was a great team effort to reward the work of the whole team.
“We must enjoy these outcomes, but we need to learn certain lessons to make further progress in the long run.”