Ryusei Yamanaka and Jason Dupasquier finish 12th and 13rd in the GP of France
After taking place in October 2020 due to COVID restrictions, in 2021 the French GP was again scheduled, as tradition, in May. The circuit of Le Mans, located in the North of France, was again a the scenery of great battles. But as it often happens here in France, the common rival was was the weather.
The FP1 started in wet conditions and the track started to dry later in the session. FP2 allowed the riders to improve their laptimes. Ryusei Yamanaka and Jason Dupasquier achieved respectively the 8th and 11th positions. This very promising result were a good starting point in view of Saturday qualifying.
On Saturday morning, the wet track didn´t allow any rider to improve the best laptime of Friday, which meant that both PrüstelGP riders could bedirectly in Q2. On an excited Q2 session, with sudden change of conditions, Ryusei and Jason got respectively the 12th and 14th place of the grid for Sunday´s race.
After a fully wet warm-up, with heavy rain for the whole session the race took place on wet track. Despite the many crashes, Ryusei and Jason kept calm also on that tricky conditions. It was a difficult race, as the track was not fully wet or dry, but Ryusei Yamanaka and Jason Dupasquier were able to keep the pace of the group fighting for the top-10 and ended the race as 12th and 13rd.
Now Carxpert PrüstelGP will fly to Spain for a two-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya-Montmelo.
Ryusei Yamanaka #6, P12
I started the race from P12. The track was wet but it got sunnier during the race. We started with very tricky conditions. I had a good start, being the front positions but then the conditions got worse because some parts were dry and some not. It was very difficult. I keep pushing but it was a challenging race. But I am satisfied with the work done. We achieved some more points, it´s the fifth race in a row when we get points so it´s good. Let´s see how the race in Mugello will be!
Jason Dupasquier #50, P13
Friday was a good day. The FP1 was in wet conditions, but the FP2 was dry and we had a good lap time, who secured us a place in Q2. FP3 was wet so no riders could improve the time. Conditions in Q2 were tricky, as the track was not completely wet. We started the race in 14th place, in wet conditions. We had a good start, and as I see many riders crashing, I tried to keep calm and focused. It was difficult to keep a good rhythm and go faster lap by lap but anyway I am satisfied with the work done and with the points. I am confident for the new races!!!!
Florian Prüstel, Team Manager
It was a difficult weekend for everyone. On Friday and Saturday, the weather constantly changed between rain and sun. However, both riders were able to take advantage of FP2 on Friday to enter Q2. So we had a bit easier time on Saturday, but still Q2 was a lottery between wet and dry conditions. In the end we had a good starting position with P12 and P14. The race was then again in the wet, we could keep up well after the first laps. But the risk between scoring points and a possible crash is very high in a wet race and therefore we could not quite repeat the TOP 10 positions. Nevertheless, we are very happy about the results and were able to score points with both riders again – that is the most important thing. Many thanks to the team for the good work and to everyone at home who followed us on TV. We also received good news this weekend: the organiser DORNA and ADAC have again reached an agreement for five more years of Sachsenring. Thank you very much for this – as a local team, we are very happy about this and it motivates us further.
Pictures by © [2021] RLekl
