Bethonie WaringJean-Baptiste Dubourg wins the penultimate round of the 2024 Andros eTrophy, closing the gap to Aurelien Panis to just 14 points.
Dubourg claimed pole after an impressive performance in the second qualifying session and led from lights to flag in the Super Final. Meanwhile, Panis was engaged in a scrap with Dorian Boccolacci that eventually led to the championship leader finishing second in the race.
Nathaneal Berthon had been quickest in the first qualifying session with a time of 2m17.057s. The time didn’t stand for long during the second qualifying, when seven of the 12 drivers lapped quicker. Dubourg went to the top of the order with a time of 2m14.442, the only driver to get into the 2m14s.
Dubourg followed his Q2 performance by topping Super Pole, lapping 0.122s quicker than Panis, who was fourth quickest in the quicker qualifying session.
Third quickest in Super Pole was enough for Berthon to place second on the grid, ahead of Panis and Boccolacci.
During the race, the top two escaped up the road while Boccolacci fought Panis for P3. He briefly managed to get ahead after a late dive at one corner, but a wide moment later in the lap allowed Panis to come back through. Yann Ehrlacher came close to demoting Boccolacci to fifth, but the Sebastien Loeb Racing driver held onto the position.
Boccolacci continued to push Panish throughout the race. Panis looked to have done enough to retain third by the final lap when Berthon ran wide at the final corner.
Berthon had been comfortably ahead of the battling duo by this point, but couldn’t recover quick enough to keep second in the race.
Panis, Boccolacci and Ehrlacher came through to drop him to fifth by the chequered flag. Christophe Ferrier finished P6, eight seconds back.
It was a simpler race int he second finals, which Jerome Grosset-Janin led from start to finish. Olivier Pernaut remained close to Sylvian Pussier throughout the race, but couldn’t pull off a move. Behind them, Olivier Panis kept the pressure on Benoit Treluyer and managed to take fourth when Treluyer ran wide on the final lap.
Dubourg moves back up to second in the championship standings, 13 points ahead of Ehrlacher and 14 points behind Panis.
Image courtesy of Bruno Bade/Gregoire Sigaud
