French endurance ace Pierre Ragues has made the most of an interrupted day of action at the 13.629km Circuit de la Sarthe on Wednesday, as Larbre Competition began their track preparations for the race.

 

The team, in their first 24 Hours of Le Mans with a prototype car, focussed on assessing the set-up and handling of their Morgan Judd LMP2 car, while completing some laps in night-time conditions. Unfortunately, it has been a day largely hampered by red flag incidents with stoppages in the four-hour afternoon free practice session as well as the evening’s qualifying which cut the session short, restricting night time running.

 

Pierre completed the first runs in the #50 Morgan Judd car in practice, beginning the all-important work on set-up to cope with the demands of this legendary circuit. Together with his team-mates Ricky Taylor and Keiko Ihara, Ragues made some progress despite the interruptions, although not all drivers were able to set the timed laps required for the night-time session.

 

Lap times themselves are not as critical in this first qualifying practice with two more timed sessions scheduled on Thursday. The team has therefore used its time today wisely to set firm foundations for the rest of the weekend. Pierre, who takes part in this eighth 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, has plenty of experience with the build-up to the race and he takes positives from today’s work.