Pierre Ragues has put in a fantastic performance in today’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps to claim an astounding GTE-Am podium finish in a thrilling WEC race. 

 

In an incident-filled race up and down the grid, Pierre and his Larbre Competition team-mates Paolo Ruberti and Yutaka Yamagishi pushed hard in their #50 Chevrolet Corvette C7-R to extract full performance from the car – never giving up in the push for a second consecutive podium finish. 

 

The podium was a great reward for Pierre’s efforts, with a dramatic race run under sunny Spa skies. The Spa 6 Hours provided Pierre and Larbre with a competitive run-in to the next round of the Championship – the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans next month.

 

The weather remained warm and sunny throughout the entire 6 Hours of Spa weekend, offering a stunning backdrop for some fantastic track action. The Larbre Competition boys got things off to a good start in Thursday practice, completing 53 laps of the 7km Spa circuit during the day. 

 

Qualifying was also held in bright conditions with Paolo and Yutaka on duties. Despite an initial position of fourth in class, the team was moved to the back of the field for abuse of track limits during the session.   

 

Paolo was given the task of getting the race started for the team and he made a solid start, gaining positions on the opening laps. He was involved in a thrilling battle with the Porsche GT and moved up to third place at the end of the first hour. 

 

Handing over to Pierre after 22 laps, the Corvette took on fuel and tyres before resuming its fight. Pierre was on competitive form, among the quickest in class on a regular basis during his stint pushing for second in GTE-Am.  The Frenchman went immediately on a charge and was able to move up to second position after a sublime stint.

 

Yutaka took over with 4h19 remaining under Full Course Yellow. Unfortunately, 20 seconds was lost at the pit stop due to a wheel nut malfunction. However, the team was still hoping for a podium charge. Further drama was to follow when Yutaka was given a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits. At the race’s halfway mark, the team was in fifth place as Paolo took over. 

 

A strong push combined with taking advantage of pit stop timing, the car was back into the podium positions. Yutaka jumped back in to complete his required 1h45 of driving time before handing over to Pierre for the final phase of the race. On a good rhythm, Pierre was on a charge but a big crash for a GT car brought out the safety car. Pierre completed his final stop under SC conditions and resumed in fourth place.  

 

The safety car came in with 40 minutes left of the race and Pierre was able to resume his charge. It was a stunning performance from Pierre as he demonstrated impressive pace and perseverance. He fought hard against mounting pressure behind but kept a level head to secure third place in an amazing finale to fend of a challenge by 0.161s!

 

Pierre said: “That was definitely one of the most chaotic, fantastic and dramatic races I have ever been involved in. What a result! I am thrilled that we have been able to take our second GTE-Am podium in a row, in true fighting fashion. We have been blessed with sunny skies at Spa all weekend and we’ve seen a thrilling six-hour race. We had a few issues – like everyone else it seems – but we have worked together as a team to overcome everything. I was very happy in the cockpit of the incredible Corvette. I felt comfortable to push, which ultimately gave me the confidence to push for the podium in the closing laps. It was a really close finish – just a tenth-of-a-second, but I was determined to defend the podium position for me, my team-mates, Larbre and Corvette, as well as my partners GroupAuto, Sparco and Ellip6. This race was the perfect preparation for Le Mans. We will look into the issues that we faced this weekend and iron out any problems before the biggest race of the year next month. It will be my tenth participation in Le Mans, so I am going to do all I can to keep up our run of class podiums and hopefully to stand on the magical Le Mans podium!”