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Pole position P2 both in the race and in the standings / 4h Barcelona ELMS
Reportagem: Panis Racing

The ELMS competitors were back on track this weekend on the Spanish soil after the summer break. Once again, the French team led by Olivier Panis in association with Sarah and Simon Abadie (Tech1 Racing) delivered a great performance, with Nico Jamin claiming the pole position and with a final second place at the end of the four-hour race. Panis Racing's performance at the Circuit de Barcelona means that the team is now second in the overall LMP2 standings.

As usual, Thursday was a private practice day, with free practice sessions on Friday (P10) and Saturday morning (P5). Jamin/Van Uitert/Canal roster and Panis engineers worked hard to prepare the qualifying session and the race.

On Saturday mid-afternoon, qualifying started under a dark sky, but without any rain throughout the session. Nico Jamin was on track aboard the #65 Oreca, with the pole position as a great result. He set a 1:34.802 on his last attempt! It was the first pole position for the French team since its switch to the Oreca chassis (mid-2019).

At 11.45 am on Sunday, Julien Canal started from pole on a 40-degree track, ahead of the Cool Racing car driven by Niklas Kruetten. He kept the lead thanks to a great approach to turn 1, but the safety car was immediately out. On Lap 18, stuck in the traffic, he got passed by Ferdinand Hasburg (Prema Racing). Nevertheless, he stayed close behind the new leader with an excellent pace around the 4.675 km track before handing the #65 Oreca car over to Nico Jamin after one hour and a half of driving. With cars around the pit box place, both in front and behind, Nico conceded a place to Nicolas Lapierre's Cool Racing car, before a fantastic fight between the two "Nicolas". A Full Course Yellow was once again out at mid-race. Now back in second place, Nico reduced the gap to the leader, thanks to a great pace, and despite a huge traffic around the 49-degree track.

Back in the pit, Nico Jamin handed the car over to Job Van Uitert, still in P2. A new FCY with 35 minutes to go led the Dutchman to a final splash in the pit. Despite all efforts and Job's great performance against Louis Deletraz, the gap with Prema Racing was too big to allow Panis Racing to regain its first place. At the end of the 4-hour race, Jamin / Van Uitert / Canal roster climbed once again on the second step of the podium and left Spain in the second place in the championship.

Olivier Panis - Team Principal : "A new podium for the team! Nico did an incredible qualifying session! I can only thank and cheer everyone. We really have three great drivers, and the team fights brilliantly in every race within a strong field of big teams with much bigger resources than us. There are two races left, and there is no doubt that the whole Panis team - crew, engineers and mechanics – only targets the first place in the championship standings."

Florent Gouin - Engineering Manager: "Very pleased by the work done and the results this weekend. We have made constant progress throughout the week, before claiming the pole position with Nico. The race was also very satisfying given the pace shown by the 3 drivers. Julien was exceptional at the beginning of the race, especially when he had no traffic. Afterwards, Nico showed an excellent pace too, and Job managed his tires very well at the end of the race. We were affected by a few small incidents (notably the Julien-Nico stint) which delayed us from catching Prema Racing in the middle of the race. We'll be fighting over the last two races to finish this championship in style."

Julien Canal : "It has been a very good weekend for us with the pole position, fruit of the team's work and Nico's job, and of course with this final result of the race. I'm very happy to have kept the lead for so long. It's a pity that afterwards the traffic allowed Hasburg to pass, but I managed to stay close thanks to a good rhythm, and afterwards my teammates did a great job. This podium place is fully deserved, and we will continue to fight at the top of the field."

Nico Jamin : "Great weekend. I'm really happy to have been able to set the pole position for the team on Saturday. We were so close since the beginning of the season, without reaching it till now. Then, we did a good job in the race, even if we didn't take back the lead. We grabbed some nice extra points overall and seeing, once again, the level of performance of the car here, thanks to everyone's hard work, we are already looking forward to the fight at Spa next month."

Job Van Uitert : "P2 at Barcelona! Another podium. Three out of four now, which is very good. The pole position set by Nico was a great positive as well. It's going into the right direction. We are going closer to Prema, but today they were better than us. They had more pace as well. Apart from that, the team did not mistake. We scored good points again, even if Prema scored more today. But overall, a very good weekend."

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