G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed strengthens its leadership with the ORECA 07.
Update: 28th August – 10:25am
After the race, United Autosports’s No. 32 Ligier received a penalty for a Full Course Yellow infringement. The team thus moved down to the fifth place in the rankings, granting a new podium to Graff Racing’s No. 39 ORECA 07 (Guibbert/Petit/Trouillet).
Two ORECA teams are currently in the championship Top 3: G-Drive Racing is in the lead with the No. 22 ORECA 07 and 80 points, followed by Graff Racing’s No. 39 car in third place with 49 points.
Two ORECA teams are currently in the championship Top 3: G-Drive Racing is in the lead with the No. 22 ORECA 07 and 80 points, followed by Graff Racing’s No. 39 car in third place with 49 points.
This weekend, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet marked the beginning of the second part of the European Le Mans Series after the summer break. Under intense heat, the competition was at its highest on the Paul Ricard Circuit. G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed’s No. 22 ORECA 07 (Roussel/Rojas/Minassian) posted the best lap time during the race and clinched a new podium, with a second place. Graff Racing missed the third place by a hair’s breadth and finished 4th with the No. 39. As for the No. 40, it completed the race just off the Top 5, followed by DragonSpeed’s No. 21.
An exciting return to competition
Right from the start, this fourth round of the European Le Mans Series promised to live up to expectations: warm sunshine and heated competition. During the two free practice sessions, the ORECA 07s took control of the track before delivering incredible performances in the qualifying sessions with three ORECAs occupying the first three places: pole position for Nicolas Lapierre’s No. 21, followed by No. 22 and No. 39 cars.
At midday, the green flag launched the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. No incident at the start for the three ORECAs in the lead. Graff Racing’s No. 40, managed to catch up really well and moved from the tenth to the seventh position.
Thanks to a super-fast pit stop, the No. 39 (Guibbert/Petit/Trouillet) took the lead, though the No. 27 Dallara managed to take over following on an efficient refuelling stop 45 minutes in the race.
The No. 39 and No. 22 cars spent the whole second hour of the race fighting for the second place.
In the third hour, DragonSpeed upgraded its game to reach the second and third positions with the No. 25 and No. 21 cars respectively.
The No. 21 went into the pits to change the rear bodywork and got delayed; the gap was then too hard to close just an hour before the end of the race. Leo Roussel, who was on board the No. 22 for the last stint, worked until the very last seconds of the race to consolidate its second place, while trying to overtake Russian team SMP Racing. Enzo Guibbert, on board the No. 39, completed an impressive last stint, but missed the podium by less than a second. The No. 40 car showed consistency until the very end of the race and crossed the finish line in 6th place.
They said:
Paul Petit (0RECA 07, No. 39, Graff Racing): “It was a great race, clean race, we’ve done our best. It’s frustrating to finish just off the podium, but that still allows us to consolidate our third place in the championship. We’re improving on every single race, we’d like to clinch one win before the end of the season. Personally I’m satisfied with my stint, I fought against tough contenders, that was nice.”
Memo Rojas (ORECA 07, No. 22, G-Drive Racing by DragonSpeed): “We completed the race on the podium, so that was a great round for us. We finished in front of the No. 32 which is our main rival in the championship, our leadership is strengthened, so the weekend is very positive. Despite the best lap time during the race and our top speed, we didn’t win. The Dallara did a great job. That’s motorsport, we can’t always win!”
The contenders of the European Le Mans Series are now getting ready for the next round in Spa-Francorchamps, while those participating in the World Endurance Championship will be returning to competition next week, as part of the 6 Hours of Mexico.