Метка: Ferdinand Habsburg

Alpine confident for ‘good news’ in Habsburg injury recovery

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The French manufacturer dropped hints at last weekend’s Imola WEC race that it expects the Austrian to retake his place alongside Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin in the #35 Alpine A424 LMDh at the Spa 6 Hours on 11 May.

“We are expecting good news from Ferdy this week,” said Philippe Sinault, boss of Signatech squad that runs the factory Alpines.

“We hope he can be with us as soon as possible. His environment, the personal one and the medical one also, is very good.”

Asked specifically about the chances of Habsburg being back in the cockpit at the Belgian WEC round, Sinault suggested that a decision could be imminent.

“We will have a clearer view at the end of this week,” he stated.

The entry list for Spa will be published this week, although Habsburg’s presence on it would not necessarily mean he will be in the car for round three of the WEC.

He is still awaiting sign-off from his doctors to get back in a racing car after fracturing two lumbar vertebrae while testing for Alpine at the MotorLand Aragon circuit at the end of March.

Photo by: Alpine

It is understood that he will have a series of scans in the run-up to Spa to assess his recovery from the injuries, which were sustained in a head-on impact at Turn 7 of the Spanish venue.

There is no expectation that Habsburg will be ready to race one week before Spa at the Paul Ricard round of the European Le Mans Series, in which he is contracted to the Cool Racing LMP2 team.

He was replaced by Chatin in the Cool ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2 in the ELMS opener at Barcelona earlier this month and then by Jules Gounon, Alpine’s official reserve driver, in the A424 at last weekend’s Imola 6 Hours WEC round.

Sinault confirmed that Habsburg’s accident was the result of a problem with the car and not driver error.

“We continue to investigate, but we had a technical issue,” he said. “Everything is under control; we have worked very hard after this accident, but now it is okay.”

Habsburg’s accident curtailed an endurance test, but Sinault insisted that it wasn’t a major problem for Alpine as it builds towards the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

He revealed that the solo car present at Aragon had already completed 26 of the planned 30 hours and that the test was still a productive one.

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Gounon replaces Habsburg for Alpine Hypercar debut at Imola’s WEC round

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The two-time GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup title winner with Mercedes takes Habsburg’s seat in the French manufacturer’s #35 A424 LMDh alongside Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup in his role as official reserve for the Signatech-run Alpine Endurance Team.

Habsburg has been ruled out for at least the second round of the 2024 WEC after sustaining two fractured vertebrae during an endurance test with Alpine at the Aragon ciruit at the end of March.

Alpine team principal Philippe Sinault said: “It’s never easy to make your debut in such a context, but Jules was identified, selected and signed to fill this role, even though we never imagined it would happen so early like this.

“He’s fundamentally ready but still has much to learn, even if he has already demonstrated his mastery of several aspects, given his track record in GT [racing].

“We honed his preparation during our latest tests with his six team-mates and then in the simulator to prepare him for all our processes.”

Sinault added that Habsburg would “be in our minds” and that his absence is “a hard blow”.

Alpine has given no indication of whether Habsburg will be fit in time for round three of the WEC at Spa on 11 May.

The two fractured lumbar vertebrae were sustained when Habsburg crashed at Turn 7 at MotorLand Aragon for reasons that have so far not been disclosed by Alpine.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The injuries were only diagnosed after Habsburg had returned to his native Austria, despite undergoing checks in the local hospital in Alcaniz.

Gounon, 29, has been a factory sportscar driver since he began a three-year stint at Bentley prior to joining the Mercedes-AMG GT3 roster in 2021.

But Imola will be his first race at the wheel of a prototype.

Alpine said in its pre-race statement that its mission over the weekend of the Imola 6 Hours will be “to gather as much data as possible”.

“Our goal at Imola is to continue our learning process to be increasingly ready and gain momentum for the forthcoming races,” explained Sinault.

“We’ll discover a circuit quite different from what we’ve experienced since the first runs of the A424.”

Habsburg, Milesi and Chatin took points for Alpine on the debut of the A424 developed in conjunction with French constructor ORECA in the Qatar 1812Km at the beginning of March.



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