[12-06-2014]
PIERRE RAGUES QUALIFIES FOR EIGHTH LE MANS 24 HOURS AFTER HECTIC QUALIFYING SESSIONS AT CIRCUIT DE LA SARTHE
.jpg&maxsize2=250) French endurance racer Pierre Ragues has today qualified for an impressive eighth 24 Hours of Le Mans after setting the required night-time laps with the Larbre Competition team in this evening’s qualifying session.
The first of today’s two qualifying practice sessions, the two hour session from 19.00-21.00 Le Mans time, was shortened and interrupted due another red flag hit session, which prevented teams and drivers from completing their programmes.
The Larbre Competition team were unable to complete their qualifying runs in the Morgan-Judd LMP2 car because of the disruption but race organisers announced an extension of the night-time session to two-and-a-half hours. Furthermore, the team experienced engine sensor gremlins in the session that required the team to carry out some swift work.
In the later qualifying session, Pierre was first out to complete his runs, which he did professionally but encountering some traffic. Still, the laps ensured his place in this year’s 82nd running of the prestigious Le Mans event. The team added 19 laps in this evening’s second session in addition to 11 in the first qualifying practice.
Pierre’s team-mates Ricky Taylor and Keiko Ihara also completed their required runs and the trip will take the start of this year’s Le Mans in 25th place overall and 16th in LMP2. The team stopped their programme half an hour before the end of the session so it has not quite managed as many laps as it had hoped.
Even so, the team has focused, in amongst the flag interruptions in some of the sessions this weekend, on set-up of the Morgan Judd LMP2 and Michelin tyres in order to best prepare for its first prototype event in Le Mans following years of successful GT entries. Pierre Ragues will play a key role in the team’s race and will look forward to making his eighth Le Mans one to remember!
Pierre said: “We have achieved all of our essential targets today which have been for all three drivers to complete the night time laps and to qualify our Morgan Judd LMP2 for Saturday’s race start. It has been a tough day with some interruptions in the first qualifying session which resulted in an extended second session. This was a good decision because we could complete some good laps and work not only on qualifying but also continuing set up work. Unfortunately, we had to stop a bit early so we were missing some laps but we have some data to work with and the team has worked fantastically well. We have a lot of experience in this team and we know that grid position in a 24 hour race is not everything, so we will continue to push and develop ourselves. This is an important race for Larbre Competition, for me personally in my eighth Le Mans and for my sponsors Group Auto. We will continue to work hard ahead of the next track session on Saturday morning.”
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