Alpine defied expectations from the beginning of the 6 Hours of Imola towards their second podium finish, said #36 co-driver Mick Schumacher.
The Alpine Endurance Team scored their second Hypercar podium finish last weekend at the second 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship round.
Schumacher, in particular, stood on his second WEC podium after first doing so at last year’s 6 Hours of Fuji with now-sporting director Nico Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxivierre.
Imola proved a positive outing for Alpine even though the #35 scored 13th in the end, as the son of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher reflected on their success:
“It was a great race, and I’m really happy with the end result.
“The most important thing is to bring back good results and our strategy was key today, with a little help from a few incidents out front.
“We managed to pull off something we didn’t believe quite possible at the start and we can be proud of our progress so far.
“Let’s keep working hard to build on this momentum at Spa and Le Mans.”
One of his #36 co-drivers Jules Gounon added: “This podium finish rewards all our hard work over the winter and underlines our progress with the tyres.
“We went on the soft tyres very early to put in quick out-laps on this track where track position is crucial.
“The neutralisations didn’t help, but I managed to hold my position.
“The team’s strategy was excellent at the end of the race, and Mick took full advantage of it.
“We now need to keep working to build momentum for the coming races.”
An aggressive approach for the #36 Alpine
Schumacher, Gounon and the team’s newest arrival Frederick Makowiecki scored third place having qualified sixth on the grid.
Team principal Philippe Sinault said: “We were determined to demonstrate our progress in understanding the car, and this race shows that the slightest mistake can be costly in a pure sprint, especially on a circuit where track position is so important.
“The first few hours didn’t go quite as we wanted.
“We got back into contention by opting for soft tyres on an increasingly cool track.
“Towards the end, we opted for different strategies to cover all scenarios.
“We were aggressive with car #36, favouring two short stints rather than a long one followed by a very short one at the end of the race.
“Everything fell into place, allowing us to push without compromising our tyres.
“It was a great team effort that rewarded the entire team’s work.
“We must enjoy this result, but we must also learn certain lessons to make even more progress in the long term.”
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