Alpine left chasing ghosts after Spa heartbreak

It is honestly difficult to fathom how the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps slipped through the fingers of the Alpine Endurance Team. They arrived at the Ardennes with the A424 humming, locking out the second row of the grid and putting the #35 entry a mere 0.078 seconds off pole. It was the manufacturer's best qualifying performance in the Hypercar category, and with 101,606 fans watching, the pace was clearly there.

Ferdinand Habsburg and Frédéric Makowiecki had the machine running beautifully in the top group for the first half of the six-hour contest. Habsburg even put on a masterclass, diving past Loïc Duval for second position. But endurance racing is cruel. Just when it mattered, the momentum died. António Félix da Costa found himself leading before losing ground in traffic, and then the unthinkable happened: a high-speed spin at Raidillon on cold tyres with less than half-an-hour remaining left the #35 car damaged and out of the running.

Meanwhile, the sister #36 car suffered its own set of unfortunate circumstances. A poorly timed Virtual Safety Car interruption forced Jules Gounon into an energy-saving stint, leaving the trio to finish 11th, just ahead of the #35 in 12th. Team Principal Philippe Sinault did not mince words, noting that both cars had the potential for a top-five finish. While the result is a bitter pill to swallow, the team remains focused on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, knowing that their raw potential is there—they just need to stop the small, costly mistakes.