Trois-Rivieres, Canada — Saturday 9 August, 2014: Albatec Racing helped the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy make history in the first ever race outside Europe at the stunning Trois-Rivieres track in Quebec on Friday. With former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve and 2011 British Rallycross Vice-Champion Andy Scott at the wheel of a pair of two-litre 16v Peugeot 208s, tens of thousands of enthusiastic spectators were treated to a mouth-watering display, that netted a return to semi final form for the Dumfries-based team.
After a delayed start to proceedings when the race organisers were required to make some minor changes to the track, Friday’s race action kicked off with a two-hour open practice session that saw the new St-Hubert liveried 208s quickly settle into some respectable times.
Drawn in the second race of the opening heats, Jacques quickly outlined his intentions of securing a strong home result, taking a comfortable race win, and setting a strong overall pace after the four races. In heat two, another strong race allowed the French-Canadian to set an equally fast time on his way to second place to put him sixth in the standings ahead of heat three.
The third heat looked set to allow another good result to keep his hopes of qualifying to the semis alive, but a heavy landing ripped the fuel tank from the underside of the car, putting the Indycar World Series Champion out on the spot. Despite a frantic effort by the team, the hectic one-day schedule just didn’t allow enough leeway to make the necessary repairs to the car in time for the final heat.
For Andy, a similarly strong pace in every heat helped to return him to semi-final qualifying form. Third in heat one, second in heat two and fourth in heat three saw him well placed to progress, placing him tenth ahead of the final qualifier.
A tough start in the final heat saw the #26 car squeezed along the 400m drag into turn one, lifting him completely off the ground, but a strong recovery netted a superb third place to put him 11th and into a semi final position.
Lining up on the third row, a disappointing start dropped Andy down the order and prevented him from capitalising on the Peugeot’s 600bhp, but the performance of both cars over the course of the day left the Team Principal happy with the team’s upturn in results and confident ahead of the next round.
Andy Scott, Team Principal and Driver, Albatec Racing #26:
“It’s been a tough day, where the quick turnaround between the heats really hurt us. For Jacques with a little bit more time we could have repaired his car so it’s particularly disappointing after such a strong start to the day to put him so high up the standings.
“I’m pleased to have made it into the semis, particularly after the tough final qualifying heat, but in the semi I just didn’t get a good start and I was playing catch-up all the way through. But it’s given us a good feeling as we head into the final five rounds that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Jacques Villeneuve, Driver, Albatec Racing #25:
“It’s a very frustrating end to the weekend after we fought so hard in the opening two heats, to put us sixth. The fuel tank was ripped off over a jump, which has never happened before and although the team worked hard to try and repair the damage in between the heats, there just wasn’t time.
“We’ve been here before, we’ve had some bad luck in other races, but to be running so high in front of my home supporters is particularly disappointing.”
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