[11-06-2015]
RACE FOCUS FOR PIERRE RAGUES ON FINAL DAY OF LE MANS QUALIFYING
 The final qualifying practice sessions for this weekend’s 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans took place today with Pierre Ragues using the opportunity to finesse his race set-up.
Ragues, along with his TEAM SARD Morand colleagues – and team-mates Oliver Webb and Zoel Amberg, will start Saturday’s race from 24th on the grid – and in the top ten in the LMP2 class – after an interrupted day of qualifying on Thursday.
The first session of the day, the second qualifying practice overall, was hampered by a red flag which prevented the team from getting any running in the #43 Morgan Evo Sard. The team had worked hard to prepare the car for a long run late in the session but the untimely red flag meant a change of strategy was required.
The session was cut short with race organisers opting to add thirty minutes onto the final session, allowing the team to make the most of 2.5hrs of dry track time – a rare situation after the rain-affected test and free practice sessions. All three drivers got time in the cockpit of the car, with the team looking to prioritise race set-up over qualifying laps.
The closely-fought LMP2 grid places a premium on car performance over longer stints, rather than one lap pace, so the team’s decision to concentrate on the race will hopefully pay rewards come Sunday afternoon.
Pierre and the team completed 26 laps today and will now look to make final preparations in Saturday morning’s warm-up. Before that, Pierre will join the traditional drivers’ parade on Friday evening with thousands of fans flocking to cheer on the stars of this year’s 24 Hours.
Ragues, who is sponsored by Drivista.com and Sparco for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, commented: “It’s been a day of two halves, really. We had worked towards completing a longer run in the second part of the first session but the red flag put a stop to that, so we decided to move our focus to the final session, which was extended to 90 minutes. We’ve not had much fully dry running this year so it was a useful opportunity for us to concentrate on race set-up with the #43 Morgan Evo Sard and Dunlop tyres. We completed a good number of laps and can be relatively pleased with our pace. We weren’t looking for qualifying times and there’s plenty we can do from tenth in class over a 24-hour race. I can’t wait for Saturday. The next step, however, is the drivers’ parade tomorrow. As a team, we are in good spirits and will fight hard for a good result this weekend.”
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