Pierre Ragues put in another stellar performance in the Bahrain 6 Hours, the concluding round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, but his efforts were thwarted by a brake disc failure 2h25 from the end of the race.

 

Pierre and Team SARD Morand headed to Bahrain on the back of a strong run of top-five finishes, and they were on course to continue that before misfortune hit. Up to that point, it had been a generally trouble-free run for the #43 Morgan Evo Sard. 

 

Pierre, along with team-mates Oliver Webb and Chris Cumming, accomplished plenty of laps in the three free practice sessions on Thursday and Friday. The trio, working on long runs and race preparation, amassed 72 laps of the Bahrain International Circuit on Thursday, although traffic and yellow flags prevented Pierre from a new tyre run with Dunlop.    

 

Friday moved towards qualifying as the team added another 26 laps in final practice. Qualifying was delayed after the lights failed around the illuminated circuit just into the GT session but, once fixed, it was business as normal. Pierre was second of the two drivers to qualify and, on his first run on new tyres, he set a respectable time of 1:51.6. 

 

Oliver Webb was on starting duties for the team in the six-hour race, running from day into night, with Pierre scheduled to drive third. After a difficult start, in which Oliver was forced to take evasive action to avoid contact into the first corner, losing positions, the team soon picked up pace. 

 

Tyre wear was one of the main talking points with different strategies deployed. This allowed the team to run as high as fourth. Oliver handed over to Chris in sixth place, with the Canadian establishing his own rhythm. Despite a spin, he handed over to Pierre at the race’s halfway mark. 

 

Pierre put in a strong performance, setting some of the quickest laps of the LMP2 drivers until 2h25 to go when he experienced a brake disc failure, which pitched him into a spin. The spin sent him into the Armco that required him to pit for repairs. The team did an outstanding job to minimise the delay but losing seven minutes of time put Pierre down in seventh. Oliver returned to the #43 car for the final 90 minutes securing the team seventh place in LMP2 and 16th overall.

 

The race brings to an end a largely successful season for Pierre, who has demonstrated himself to be a versatile and consistently fast contender in LMP2 – from the podium in Spa right up to his fighting performance in Bahrain.