[01-11-2015]
PIERRE RAGUES CLINCHES FIGHTING FOURTH IN RAIN-AFFECTED SHANGHAI 6 HOURS
 French endurance racer Pierre Ragues has scored his fifth top-five result of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship in China today with a solid run to fourth place in tricky conditions.
Pierre once again joined team-mates Oliver Webb and Chris Cumming in the Team SARD Morand line-up with their sights set on another competitive showing after a positive Fuji 6 Hours last time out.
The trio got down to business quickly in Friday’s free practice sessions, putting the #43 Morgan Evo SARD through its paces around the tricky Shanghai International Circuit. With it being the first time for Oliver and Chris at the track, and Pierre’s first visit since 2012, there was a lot of learning while setting up the car for the weekend.
Pierre completed 11 of the team’s 37 laps in the opening session, concentrating on used tyre performance, before moving onto new Dunlop tyre runs in the afternoon session. Despite traffic on his new tyre run, Pierre was satisfied as the team totalled 73 laps over the two sessions in dry conditions.
Saturday’s practice was equally productive with 25 laps as Pierre looked at preparing for the race. In qualifying, Pierre had a solid, trouble-free run, setting a highly respectable 1:53.9 on his flying lap, helping the team to claim fourth spot on the grid.
Wet weather greeted teams on Sunday morning and it was to be a rain-affected six-hour race with challenging and evolving conditions. Starting under the Safety Car, the team retained fourth position but once racing started in earnest, the team moved its way up to second place. The emergence of a full course yellow caution led the team to bring Oliver, who had started the race, in early to hand over to Pierre.
Unfortunately, in the opening twenty minutes of Pierre’s stint, there were two full course yellows, which hampered his rhythm. The changeable conditions made tyre calls difficult. Pierre found himself initially on cut slicks but pitted for full wets as the rain worsened. However, after his scheduled fuel stop, the conditions eased so he was forced to persevere with full wets on a track that was better suited to cut slicks, leaving Pierre unable to meet his usual competitive potential. Still, he was able to keep the team in with a shout when he handed over to Oliver, who shared driving duties with Chris for the remainder of the race, making the most of cut and full slicks respectively on the drying racing line.
The team did well to be in the fight and benefited from late drama to inherit fourth place in LMP2 on the final lap – and 12th place overall.
Pierre, who was again supported by partners GroupAuto and Sparco, commented:
“It was certainly an eventful race but I think we can be relatively satisfied to come away with fourth. The weather conditions today were pretty awful and the number of full course yellows I had on my stint made things very frustrating and it was difficult to build a rhythm. We had a difficult job, like everyone, to select the best tyre for the conditions, so I lost time changing from cut slicks to full wets, and then again struggling for pace on full wets when the track was better suited to cut slicks. It was a pity because I felt we had a strong package; I was simply hurt by the full course yellows and the conditions.”
“Considering that, I was very pleased with my driving. The team did a great job all weekend. We put a lot of focus on race preparation in practice rather than outright lap times, and we then showed some potential in qualifying, taking fourth place. We knew the race would be difficult but I didn’t expect it to be so frustrating. We must now look at finishing on a high point in the final race in Bahrain and fighting for fourth in the championship – which is still a realistic target. Thanks, as always, to GroupAuto and Sparco for their support. We can be proud of this weekend but we must use it as a learning experience to build momentum for the future.”
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