French race ace Pierre Ragues will resume his FIA World Endurance Championship campaign as the series returns from a lengthy summer break with the brand new 6 Hours of Nürburgring this weekend.

 

Despite being a new venue for WEC this season, the Nürburgring is a popular venue for international motorsport and is a circuit well known to Pierre from his previous endurance racing experience.

 

The Frenchman has been keeping busy since the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in June to keep his race craft refreshed and to allow him to perform competitively in his third endurance LMP2 race of 2015. In addition to his WEC activities, Pierre took part in a French Rally Championship event in early July.

 

As part of the competitive Team SARD Morand line-up, Pierre took an LMP2 podium in his first event of the season – the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps – before fighting for a top five result at Le Mans prior to the team’s heartbreaking retirement. 

 

Pierre will once again partner Oliver Webb in the #43 Morgan Evo Sard this weekend but they will be joined by Archie Hamilton for the Nürburgring race.  Pierre had a taste of the car around the 5.148km track at a test at the end of July, giving him and the team an opportunity to being its set-up work for the race. That important work will resume once free practice gets underway on Friday afternoon. 

 

Pierre will once again derive support from his partners GroupAuto for the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, while Team SARD Morand continue to be title sponsored by Franck Muller.  

 

Pierre said: “It has been a long break since Le Mans, so I am really looking forward to the start of the second part of this WEC season. We have a nice run of races ahead of us, but Nürburgring will be a relatively new experience for us all. Of course, like many other drivers, I have raced there before but this will be the first time with Team SARD Morand and in the #43 Morgan Evo Sard. It’s a classic track and one I enjoy, but it is narrow so we will have to see how that affects our approach to racing. We had a test recently to get an initial feel for the car around the track and I hope we can continue the positive work we started last month when we get started in free practice. I am pleased to have the continued support of GroupAuto and of course the team, with its backing from Franck Muller.”