Franck Mailleux will this weekend join the rest of the 2011 Le Mans field for the official test day in preparation for this year’s prestigious 24 Hours race, the jewel in the crown of the endurance season.

The test, which takes place at the renowned Le Mans circuit on Sunday, will give Franck and the team a useful opportunity to work on the Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03 a full six weeks before the gruelling event gets underway.

The team has just completed a private two day test this week working towards the next race on the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup calendar, which takes place at Spa-Francorchamps at the beginning of May.

Franck, along with team-mates Soheil Ayari and Lucas Ordonez, completed around 1,000kms in the car with no significant trouble, working on set-up, aerodynamics and Dunlop tyre evaluation. With such valuable mileage under its belt, the team will be ready to complete yet more work at Le Mans on Sunday.

The rigours of Le Mans mean that there is a long checklist for the team to ensure the car is competitive and reliable. The team has already achieved an LMP2 podium this season at last month’s Sebring 12 Hours race, in which the Signatech-Nissan displayed awesome speed amongst the LMP2 cars. The team will be hoping that the competitiveness of the car continues for both Spa and Le Mans, but will also be focussed on maximising reliability – the essential component for any endurance race.

Franck Mailleux said: “I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel around Le Mans on Sunday. This year’s Le Mans 24 Hours will be the third time that I have contested the event with my Signatech team so I am very confident about the professional way that we will approach the race. This year we have the additional support of Nissan, racing under the Signatech-Nissan name, which will be a big honour for me and we will do everything in our power to deliver a strong result in LMP2. We were competitive at Sebring but ran into a few mechanical problems that we are sure we will eradicate. The two day test we had earlier this week was certainly very positive. Sunday’s official Le Mans test day gives us a great opportunity to work on all areas of the car, engine and tyres specifically for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the highlight of the season. It will give us a rough benchmark of our performance against our rivals but we will just concentrate on our own work plan.”
 

For more information about Franck Mailleux, please visit www.franckmailleux.com or www.quadrasports.com