Pierre Ragues and the G-Drive by Signatech-Nissan team had the pace to challenge for the podium in today’s 6 Hours of Fuji Speedway but an engine starter motor problem in the final quarter of the race denied them the opportunity. 

Pierre’s team-mate Nelson Panciatici underlined the pace of the #26 Nissan-powered Oreca 03 today by setting the fastest lap of all LMP2 cars during his final stint. Unfortunately the team lost too much time throughout the six hour race to be able to capitalise on their clear potential.

Panciatici started the race, having qualified fourth on Saturday, and got a good start. Handing over to Pierre Ragues, the team suffered a problem with the wheel gun that lost 20 seconds of time. Ragues then embarked on a very competitive double stint to keep the team in podium contention at the midway stage of the race. The wheel gun problem added to pit stop delays experienced by the team today, which will be subject to a detailed investigation.

Following Pierre’s strong double stint, Roman Rusinov assumed control but towards the end of his run, as he prepared to pit to hand over to Panciatici, the car was called into the pits with an engine starter motor problem, similar to one suffered on the team’s sister #23 car earlier in the race. The team’s mechanics worked professionally and quickly to change the motor but lost an agonising nine minutes which ended the team’s chances of closing in on the podium.

Things were further compounded during Panciatici’s final stint with a spin caused by another car making contact, which added another 20 second deficit to the team’s race. The sole consolation is the fastest LMP2 lap and the possibility of bouncing back at the season finale in Shanghai in two weeks’ time.

Pierre Ragues commented: “We definitely had the pace to be podium contenders today but we were up against a series of issues in the race that all played against our efforts. It was going quite according to plan following a good start by Nelson, a competitive double stint by myself and a good run by Roman. We were in a promising position in class and hopeful of chasing down a podium but we then experienced a problem with the engine starter motor which necessitated an unscheduled stop in the pits. The team worked so hard to minimise the time lost but it was a big job and lost us nine minutes. After that, there was no chance to salvage anything, but even so we kept pushing and Nelson set the fastest LMP2 lap of the race which proves our competitive pace again this weekend. Thanks, as always, to the team, to Nissan and to Group Auto Union. We have the final race of the season in China in two weeks, so we will do everything we can to come back stronger from this disappointment.”