Castellet, France, October 17th - The fifth season of the Alpine Elf Europa Cup drew to a close at Circuit Paul Ricard this weekend at the final round of the year.
With forty-five points still up for grabs, Lucas Frayssinet (Chazel Technologie Course) came into the weekend five points ahead of Simon Tirman (Autosport GP) and thirty-one clear of Paul Cauhaupé (Patrick Roger Autosport GP). However, Tirman was forced to retire from the race one on Saturday as Cauhaupé claimed the win, having led from start to finish, and Frayssinet finished second, collecting a big haul of points in the process. Tirman’s misfortune had made his task a whole lot more difficult. However, he produce a valiant effort on Sunday to claim pole position before then winning the race. Cauhaupé finished as runner-up whilst Frayssinet had to settle for fifth position. However, it was enough for the Montpellier driver to seal the title and win the €40,000 in prize money towards a switch to GT4 in 2023.
“It’s been an incredible season, with a lot of ups and downs,” commented a clearly delighted Frayssinet at the finish. “The first part of the season was difficult to deal with emotionally, because we had some great results and we weren't expecting to find ourselves in that position. The second part of the year was trickier from a sporting point of view because the Autosport GP team came back strongly in terms of performance. But we held on, we were able to grab opportunities when they came up and scored good points consistently. You don’t win championships just by winning races, you have to have consistency and pick up podiums. And that’s what we have done all season!” Finally, it is also worth noting that Anthony Fournier (Race Cars Consulting) won the Gentlemen Drivers’ title.
