Christophe had not driven at Laguna Seca for ten years, and it was with great pleasure that he returned to this challenging and hilly circuit, for a 2-hour, 45-minute race that needed a specific race strategy.

« In Grand Am, the driver who takes the start has to qualify the car, » Christophe explained. «Scott Tucker did rather well and set the 13th-fastest time, in the middle of a group of professional drivers. Unfortunately, during his stint, he landed in a sand trap after being pushed off by another competitor, losing a full lap in the process ! After that point, we would have needed lots of safety car periods in order to allow us to regain our race position…. But in the end, there were only three safety cars, the first of which was caused by our own car…

«A shame, » the French driver continued. "I set the fourth-fastest time in the race, and I had the best average over the whole race. As it happens, when the safety car came out for the last time, I found myself behind the leading four cars, and I was able to overtake the fourth-placed Penske Porsche of Timo Bernhard shortly after the restart. I could have overtaken the third-placed car if I hadn’t received instructions from the pits to lift off, but the engine noise could barely cover the grinding of Mr Roger Penske’s teeth; he came to congratulate me in person after the race ! After Scott’s performance in qualifying – what an extraordinary weekend ! We were all delighted and on Sunday we were able to tell our tales in front of a wood fire in an extremely friendly atmosphere. We finished 9th, and although we know we could have got a good result, we also know that we have a car that could finish on the podium. Scott was unlucky, it was just a racing incident. There will be other opportunities.»