[01-06-2014]
POSITIVE START TO LE MANS PREPARATIONS FOR PIERRE RAGUES AND LARBRE COMPETITION
 Pierre Ragues has completed important preparation work for the forthcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans at the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe today, joining 52 other entrants who are set to take part in this year’s 82nd running of the prestigious event in two weeks’ time.
Ragues is taking part in his eighth Le Mans 24 Hours this season, his first driving for the experienced Larbre Competition squad, who are taking part with a prototype for the first time. The team is fielding a Michelin-shod Morgan Judd LMP2 car with the support of Onroak Automotive for the 24 Hours, facing fierce competition from 16 other LMP2 entries.
The team’s approach to today’s official test day has been focussed on set-up of the car and ensuring all three drivers – Pierre, Ricky Taylor and Keiko Ihara – are as comfortable as possible in the car around the 13.629km track ahead of the big race. The team completed a total of 67 laps throughout the day and although lap times were not the priority, they made positive progress.
In fine weather conditions, the team got immediately to business in the morning’s first session, a four hour open test that marked Pierre’s first run in an LMP2 car since the pre-season test at Paul Ricard earlier in the year.
Pierre completed many laps on used tyres to ease his way back into things and built up to conducting some new tyre runs in the closing moments of the morning session. Unfortunately, yellow flags and the speed-restricting yellow flag zone periods while on fresh tyres meant that Pierre could not get any benefit from the Michelin rubber.
After the lunchbreak, Pierre resumed his testing duties, setting his first timed laps on the same tyres he ended the morning with. The French ace reported positive feedback from the Larbre Competition car as the team added more laps to its daily tally. The team completed important baseline tests, dealing with a number of flag interruptions, which is common place with so many vehicles testing at the same time. In fact, Pierre was on new tyres for his final run of the afternoon but he was hampered by a red flag so could not improve his time.
The team will now carry on with its preparations for race week, looking at the data from today’s 67 laps. Pierre will join his team-mates for a training camp over the next few days as they look to establish their partnership ahead of the main event in less than two weeks.
Pierre commented: “It was a good day for me today, and important for me to test the Larbre Competition Morgan Judd again before the big week. I hadn’t driven since the pre-season test so it was great to get a feeling for the car around the incredible La Sarthe circuit. It always evokes strong feelings when driving this legendary circuit and we worked incredibly well as a team today, which makes me very excited for this year’s event. This will be my eighth Le Mans and it is just as thrilling to be part of the line-up each time. We worked through our task list thoroughly and professionally today, getting in some important laps and working on the set-up of the car with the Michelin tyres. Of course, there were lots of flags and disruptions but this is part of the pre-event process at Le Mans. We have some important work to do now to finalise our approach to the big week and lots of data to look through from today. The drivers will also spend some time in a training camp for the next few days so we can build up the race week. I can’t wait until we return to Le Mans very soon!”
Pierre Ragues is an ambassador for Alpine and is supported by Group Auto.
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