The 24 Hours of Le Mans’s traditional Test Day marked the launching of this 86^th edition of the twice around the clock in La Sarthe. Under a sunny sky, this first session on track was the opportunity for contenders to gauge each other’s strength. ORECA chassis showed serious competitiveness throughout near eight hours of track action. Second fastest time overall posted by the Rebellion R13, first of the non-hybrid cars; best time lap for the ORECA 07. All lights are green as we are now heading to the race!

LMP1, LMP2, ORECA is on all fronts

ORECA’s staff is on all fronts in La Sarthe, involved in both LMP1 and LMP2.
In the fastest class, a major challenge awaits Rebellion Racing. Only two months after its first shakedown, having just come out of Signes’s workshops, the R13 is now about to compete in the most difficult endurance race of the year. Right from the start of the Test Day, the No. 1 car in the hands of Neel Jani was on it and got in third place. Halfway in the first session, bucket seats got changed and Bruno Senna replaced Neel Jani, while Mathias Beche took over behind the wheel of the No. 3 car. A red flag then brought the morning session to an early end. After the break, the Brazilian driver and his Swiss teammate took to the track again. Mathias Beche delivered a superb performance, posting the second fastest time of the session with the No. 3 car: 3.19.680.
The sister car then got in fourth place and timesheets then remained unchanged until the end of the session.

In LMP2, defending its title the ORECA 07 reasserted itself straight away. Lap after lap, IDEC Sport Racing, G-Drive Racing and Signatech Alpine Matmut took turns in the lead until late afternoon. In the end, DragonSpeed’s No. 31 car equipped with Michelin tyres and driven by Nathanaël Berthon posted the best time of the session: 3.27.228. The final Top 5 was monopolised by ORECA chassis with IDEC Sport Racing, G-Drive Racing, TDS Racing and Signatech Alpine Matmut.

“It was a positive Test Day overall for ORECA” says Hugues de Chaunac. “In LMP1, the first feedback from the Rebellion R13 on this track was good. Rebellion Racing team and drivers did a good job. They were serious, determined and serene. In LMP2, the teams delivered good performances, with different tyres. That’s interesting, it shows the quality work put in by those teams as well as the potential of our ORECA 07. Le Mans is Le Mans though. So we need to make the most of the upcoming days to refine the smallest details, in a mission impossible style.”

There is still a long way to go. With this first session under racing conditions now over, ORECA chassis and their teams can now turn to their next challenge: to drive the fast and flowing track of Le Mans.