French endurance racer Pierre Ragues is hoping for another quick adaptation to a new circuit as Bahrain hosts the sixth round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship next weekend.  

Pierre, who has raced with the G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan squad since they joined the championship at round two, Spa-Francorchamps, embarked on a steep learning curve at last weekend’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, a track he had only experienced in an Ellip6 simulator previously. He nevertheless got to grips with the Nissan-powered Oreca 03 around the tight anti-clockwise circuit and put in an impressive double stint in the race to help the team recover to seventh in class.

The team had suffered a blow before the race even started when Nelson Panciatici was hit from behind by a car that had failed to slow sufficiently before the rolling start. G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan has adapted well to the competitive LMP2 field this season with a podium at Silverstone and a fourth at Le Mans, so will be hoping for a return to the top three at Bahrain.

Quick Q+A with Pierre Ragues

Pierre, was Brazil a disappointment after such positive results at Le Mans and Silverstone?

“If you look at the overall results, yes I think seventh in class was not where we had hoped to finish the Sao Paulo race, but in terms of outright competitiveness I think we were right there on the front-running pace. We had a fantastic practice, good qualifying and were one of the fastest LMP2 cars in race trim, so definitely reasons to be positive.”

Why were you not able to translate that into a podium result?

“We were playing catch-up from the very beginning, really, after Nelson was hit from behind by another car who should have known better. We had to stop for repairs and were down in tenth in class right at the start. Later in the race, after we had fought back to within podium contention again, we had a brake disc problem that lost us more time. We finished seventh but the fact we set the second fastest LMP2 lap in the race proved that we could have achieved more.”

So is the podium a realistic target at Bahrain?

“Knowing the performance of our package, from Nissan engine to Dunlop tyres to the Oreca 03 chassis and our team line-up, I think we are capable of the podium at each race track. It is something we always aim for, and Bahrain is no exception. We have a lot to do in practice but I am sure we will get up to speed quickly.”

How important is track time when preparing for a new race venue?

“This will be the first endurance race at Bahrain so it will be a step into the unknown. It will be a new challenge for everyone. LMP2 is very competitive so any advantage is important so we have to maximise the track time available to us and prepare the entire package – drivers included - which means I have an important part to play.”