"I told everyone that Simon was a tremendous driver and he proved it today. He made up great amount of time to close in on the Penske cars at the finish. We got a little unlucky with the yellow flags today. but I felt great. It was my first time in a car in nearly five years and, to finish on the podium is a tremendous feeling.”
"We now have a large break before the next race at Lime Rock, so we will have plenty of opportunity to regroup, take a breath and put some more testing miles under our belt to be even better prepared for our second race."
Former Champ Car star Pagenaud drove a mature first race in a Le Mans prototype to move from fifth to the overall lead by lap 70. A pit-stop for fuel and tyres on lap 74 put the de Ferran machine back to fifth with 22 laps remaining but, despite being more than a minute behind the leading Penske entry, the 24-year old French driver cut the margin to 26.8secs by the flag.
"The car was getting better and better as the race went on," Pagenaud commented, "I was pushing very hard towards the finish trying to catch the Porsche, but I really enjoyed the race – it was probably the best race I've had in my career. The most stressful part for me was sitting on the sidelines when Gil was in the car – that was a new experience for me.
"It was certainly busy out on track - the first few laps after I got in was pretty tough, making my way through some of the GT cars. At the beginning of my run, I had the
in-car radio come out and fall in my lap, but I tucked it under my seat belts and drove like that. The Acura was an incredible car today, and it was so much fun out there.
"A few more laps would have been handy, but it is always good to start on a high note, although not too high. Third place will keep everyone really motivated to do even better next time."
