Le Mans Test Day : ORECA chassis in the hunt…

This day’s test was very much a dress rehearsal for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans.  It was a single chance to prepare for the big event in two weeks’ time.  No fewer than 61 cars took to the track to fine tune their final settings or to simply discover and experience what goes into such an event.  Actually, in addition to the 56 cars invited to take part in the race on June 16 and 17,  several teams were present even though they won’t participate in the 2012 edition.  In the ORECA stable, this was the case for Sébastien Loeb Racing and two Formula Le Mans.

While the nine teams running the ORECA 03 were in the top third of the LMP2 classification, the Formula Le Mans never stopped progressing during the day.  European Le Mans Series regulars, Sébastien Loeb Racing was discovering this unique 13,629 km long circuit. It was a test session turned masters’ sitting as a quick Sébastien Loeb went faster than his teammates of the day, Nicolas Marroc and Jean-Karl Vernay. The Alsacian team’s presence at the test was for learning purposes, but didn’t keep them from notching the fifth fastest time in LMP2, first of the ORECA 03 entries.
As Jean-Karl Vernay confirms, the session was very positive: “This experience was conclusive, the car handled remarkably well which allowed us to progress and see what we wanted to see.  We weren’t necessarily looking for performance but the team can be satisfied. Sébastien didn’t hold back to sign a superb laptime… only good to come ! “

At the heals of the French team, the Argentinian squad Pecom Racing, also showed themselves worthy.  Third in the 12 Hours of Sebring this year, Soheil Ayari, Pierre Kaffer and Luis Perez Companc confirmed their potential today in combining consistency with the driving squad’s homogeny.  Sixth in LMP2, the No. 49 respected its checklist without any mechanical woes on the day.

No problems to report with the ADR-Delta team, who were running on the Circuit de La Sarthe for the first time. The British squad is riding on a successful start of the season  having finished second in the 6 Hours of Spa. John Martin and Tor Graves were joined by Jan Charouz for this day.

It was also a very busy test day for Team Signatech-Nissan with their two cars running around the top ten.  Advantage to the No.23 of Jordan Tresson, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Lombard, in ninth. Less than a tenth of second behind, the squad of Pierre Ragues, Nelson Panciatici and Roman Rusinov finished the day in 11th.
Roman Rusinov, who will be taking part in his third Le Mans 24 Hours, had an intense session.
« The day went well» said the Russian. « We mostly worked on the length of a stint, without going through too many sets of tyres.  We are pretty satisfied.  We tested all that we wanted to and validated it for the race.  We are confident. »

Between the two Signatech-Nissan ORECA 03 entries, Murphy Prototypes finished the day in 10th place with Jody Firth, Brendon Hartley and Warren Hugues at the controls, the latter coming away with a session rich in information.
« We took advantage of this session to answer several questions we had about the race. » he explains. « The track is different in some places from what I saw last year.  The surface has been redone and this slightly changes the handling of the car.  This Test Day is very important to prepare for Le Mans because it allows us to erase those kinds of surprises.  Globally, the tests were positive, even if we still need to better our top speed.  The essential is that the car inspires a lot of confidence in us.  There are still a few details to confirm but we will do that during the practice and qualifying sessions before the race. »

And for Thiriet by TDS Racing it was also a completed checklist.  Having one the 6 Hours of the Castellet this year with Pierre Thiriet and Mathias Beche, the French team are well prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the experienced Christophe Tinseau. This new addition gives positive perspective to one of the European Le Mans Series championship contenders who are making their debut in La Sarthe.

At Boutsen Ginion Racing, Bastien Brière, Jens Petersen and Shinji Nakano had work as the order of the day. As the track evolved throughout the day, the No.45 oscillated from the top of the timesheets to the middle before finally finishing in 16th place.  A few minor setting changes are planned before race start.

For Race Performance, the day was marked by an incident.  The excursion off track shuffled the Swiss team’s testing schedule and will be relying on their experience of the event, having finished 6th in 2010 and 2011

In parallel, two Formula Le Mans were on track. It was an opportunity to discover new territory with a real Le Mans prototype.  Among the drivers were Bruno Bazaud and Denis Caillon who were sharing the No. 90 with ex-footballer Fabien Barthez, who proved himself by signing better than respectable times.
Now a regular on racing circuits (entered this year in French GT), the dream became a reality: « It’s just fantastic ! Le Mans is legendary and I was able today to experience that legend in the closest possible way.  In terms of driving, I had to adapt a little.  The Formula Le Mans is not a GT, but I really enjoyed myself ! I’m ready to do it again as soon as possible … »

In the second Formula Le Mans, the young Steven Palette was teamed with American Duncan Ende (LMPC specialist) and Henri Richard. Here again, a first time experience with a 36th overall time to show for it.  Well done gentlemen !

After scrutineering on June 10 and 11, the start of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours will be given at 3p.m. on June 16.  Eight ORECA 03 will be on track.  An event not to be missed.