Broken dream
The qualifying of the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps had ended with a historic result for Peugeot, in pole position for the first time in the WEC thanks to the best time set by Malthe Jakobsen. However, hopes of victory or a podium finish vanished precisely because of an accident involving the Dane.
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The accident and self-criticism
After a not-so-brilliant start by Loic Duval, Jakobsen took the wheel of the 9X8 #94 in the fourth hour, at a moment in the race when Peugeot was in third position. Ahead of him, once back on track, Cressoni’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo lost control of the car after being lapped by the Toyota at Les Combes; not having seen the car spin across the track, Jakobsen hit the #79 of the Iron Lynx team head-on, with the accident ending the Dane’s race: “I had just left the pits, I had done Eau Rouge, I was warming up the tires and, suddenly, at turn 5, the car spun in front of me – he commented – I did not expect it at all and it caught me by surprise, unfortunately. After all, these are endurance races and the most important thing for us drivers is to bring the car past the checkered flag at the end of the race. In a situation like this, it is something we absolutely must avoid. If it had happened at Le Mans after only three or four hours, the race would have been over and that would not be acceptable. Even if it’s tough, and I know I am hard on myself, I will definitely learn from this mistake and keep it in mind for next time.”
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The positive aspects
The 22-year-old, very motivated on the eve of the race, added a personal opinion on what the result would have been without the accident, as well as what positive things can emerge in these circumstances: “Definitely a top-five finish. A podium would have been more difficult, but I am sure we would have achieved something good. If you keep winning, you don’t learn anything. Even if it’s tough and there are big disadvantages, it is precisely in these moments that, if you are a good team and stay united, you learn and improve for next time“.
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