Franck Mailleux has helped the Signatech-Nissan endurance team to get their preparations for the 80^th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans off to a positive start as the team completed around 80 laps of the track in today’s official test session. 

Two sessions of four hours, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, have given all participants the opportunity to test alongside each other around the legendary Le Mans circuit, conducting important set-up and preparatory work with their cars ahead of the famed event.

The weather has occasionally disrupted the test with overnight rain leaving the track damp early on this morning and some rain showers appearing at times during the day. Franck completed just a few laps in the conditions at the very start of the day but the team was able to get more running throughout the two sessions.  

Work centred on general set-up with the Oreca 03 chassis, as well as tyre work with Dunlop, aerodynamic settings, and generally making sure the drivers had sufficient time to reacquaint themselves with the challenging circuit.

For Franck, Le Mans is one of the standout highlights of the season with the team recalling positive memories from last year’s event in which they claimed pole position and an LMP2 podium, but this official test day has allowed them to see where they stand in relation to a competitive LMP2 field for this year’s event which gets underway in just over a week.

Franck Mailleux said: “We’ve had a busy day at Le Mans today and it has been great to get back into the spirit of this wonderful event. We’ve had a few rain showers to avoid but generally we’ve had a good day. With all the cars on-track testing today it has been busy on-track but we have been able to carry out some useful work to get ourselves into the best shape possible for the first free practice sessions. The conditions were not perfect to set meaningful lap times but it is encouraging we have completed so many laps. Le Mans puts such a firm focus on reliability that there is really a lot to go through on the checklist. We have been able to do a lot today and while are not underestimating the challenge, we are confident in our competitiveness. Jordan, Olivier and I make a good team and with two cars in the Signatech-Nissan garage, there is an extra excitement and anticipation for this year’s event.”