Last weekend was successful for PKM Consulting as they clinched two new wins together with their partners, in different disciplines. On track, AKKA-ASP won the FFSA GT Championship on Saturday afternoon, in Lédenon. In rally, Manu Guigou notched up a new win in class at the Lyon-Charbonnières round of the French Championship.
First win for AKKA-ASP’s Ferrari…
AKKA-ASP brilliantly opened its GT Tour season in Le Gard. At the wheel of a Ferrari fitted with shock absorbers prepared by PKM Consulting, and with operational support of an engineer, the No. 20’s crew, namely Philippe Giauque, Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Morgan Moullin-Traffort ticked all boxes. Pole position, best lap and win for a perfectly controlled 90-minute race. On Sunday the second race got cancelled for safety reasons due to heavy rains.
“All cars have scored some points and we’ve achieved our first win as AKKA. It’s a very positive outcome from this perspective” Jérôme Policand says. “However, apart from that, we’ve lost a lot of time in the pits, though we had rehearsed again and again. Refueling and changing tyres wasn’t an issue, however twice the same day we encountered troubles with swapping drivers. We don’t usually lose time on these actions but we now have to reassess ourselves and find a way not to repeat the same mistakes. It’s a very competitive championship overall. We can clearly see it after this weekend, there’re no less than 7 or 8 crews fast enough to compete for leading places. Scored points will turn out to be very important.” Next round in Le Mans on May 2nd and 3rd.
Then comes Manu Guigou with the Renault Clio R3T!
Winner of the Rallye du Touquet, Manu Guigou is not planning on leaving the laurels to his rivals. With the Renault Clio R3T, developed by Renault Sport in collaboration with PKM for shock absorbers, the driver clinched a second consecutive success in R3 at the Rally Lyon-Charbonnières. Together with co-driver Christophe Guieu, Manu Guigou now ranks fourth overall in the FFSA French Rally Championship!
Though driving on roads that are not very favourable to R3 cars, the Team Automeca Florajet’s driver did not do things by halves. He actually even weaved his way through the WRC cars, R5s, Gts or S2000s! Not only the result of great driving obviously, but also of a thoughtful choice of tyres. Anyway, a convincing performance just before competing in New Caledonia as part of the FIA Asia-Pacific Championship.
“We managed to combine our experience with the right attack to achieve good times and fight with the R5s, in front of the Porsches, WRC cars and all of the Super 2000s!” Manu Guigou underlines. “We had a fantastic time inside the car. The team’s work deserves to be highlighted. Perfect settings. Consequently, the Clio R3T was easy to drive under these conditions and extremely efficient. We opted for powerful brake pads which suit best the way I drive. Michelin’s hard tyres were perfect in terms of endurance and performance while softer tyres were very versatile on rough wet surfaces.”
Raphaël Astier’s great performance at the Rally Lyon-Charbonnières should be noted too. With his BMW Z3, fitted with specific shock absorbers by PKM, the young driver was second in the GT10 class for a long time. In the Top 20 overall, he unfortunately had to withdraw due to a mechanical breakdown.