Good question bookworm, thanks. It's been a real long time since I've looked at racetrack criteria and have never had to use one, so I got into the habit of thinking about them purely as reversal procedures. You're right, of course, in that Pans Ops requires protection for the sector entries - I looked it up today to confirm that, so it would appear that all sector entries are protected up to 1 minute and 30 seconds.
Thus, you would not be obliged to fly the full racetrack after completing the sector entry. Of course, if you elect to fly the standard 1 minute sector entry, all you've achieved is an entry to the holding pattern. In that event, you'd definitely need to go around the racetrack to provide the full time (ie distance) for descent on the inbound leg.
Of course, even if you fly the sector entry for the full time allowed by the racetrack, you're likely to lose some valuable time on the inbound leg by virtue of having to intercept the track, so it's probably a good idea to fly the full racetrack anyway. I have to look back at the Albi procedure to check (and don't have the time right now) but I have an idea that the maximum ROD has been fiddled a bit in that procedure.
I say that because the maximum ROD that can be designed in a final segment for Category A and B aircraft is only 655 feet per minute. Cat C, D and E can have up to 1,000 feet per minute. I suspect that the procedure doesn't quite cater for Category A and B aircraft on that basis.
I will try to have another look at the procedure within the next day or so and do some maths to confirm one way or the other.