Pierre Ragues has begun preparations for his tenth Le Mans 24 Hours in the best way possible, with the Larbre Competition team topping the GTE-Am timesheets in testing today. 

 

60 teams across all four classes of racing took to the 13.6km Circuit de la Sarthe today for eight hours of testing, divided into two four-hour sessions. The official test day is the traditional prelude to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which begins in earnest the week after next. 

 

Offering teams and drivers the chance to carry out an initial assessment of their car set-up and tyres around the legendary Le Mans track, the test is an important foundation for race week. 

 

Larbre Competition’s scheduled plans required a hasty alteration after team driver Paolo Ruberti was forced out of the event through injury. The team drafted in two drivers – Jean-Philippe Belloc and Nick Catsburg – to work alongside Pierre and Yutaka Yamagishi for today’s test.

 

Driving duties were split between all four drivers, as they covered a total of 75 laps in the #50 Chevrolet-Corvette C7-R, setting the fastest time in the GTE-Am class. The morning session took place under cloudy skies with some light rain at times. Thankfully the rain didn’t amount to much but conditions remained grey throughout the day.

 

Pierre took to the track early in the morning, helping to clean the track in the opening session. He completed 13 laps and declared himself pleased with the car set-up. The only incident in the first session was an off-track excursion into the gravel for Yamagishi, thankfully without any major damage. 

 

Pierre was back in the cockpit in the afternoon session and setting excellent pace as the track continued to rubber-in. He improved his own personal best time by two seconds. Later on, Catsburg posted the quickest time of the day in GTE-Am, leaving Larbre on top until the end, with the final session being cut short due to a red flag. That meant Pierre didn’t return to the track as planned but the pace of the Corvette and the team will encourage him for his impressive tenth participation in Le Mans. 

 

Pierre said: “It was amazing to be back on this fantastic track and to begin our preparations for Le Mans 24 Hours. This is a special event each year but this season even more so because it will be my tenth Le Mans. However, we can’t let emotion get in the way of our plans as we had a lot of important work today. Firstly, I send my best wishes to Paolo and wish him a speedy recovery. We had Jean-Philippe and Nick with us today, helping Yutaka and myself with driving duties. All in all, we completed a lot of laps and learned some interesting things about the Corvette. The car was quick from the very first laps I completed and I am really encouraged by the potential we have with the C7-R. The Michelin tyres are also looking good, so as a team I think we’re in good shape. Setting the quickest time certainly gives us optimism for race week. We have one more free practice session to fine-tune the car before qualifying sessions begin. It’s all very exciting. I am thrilled to be able to represent Larbre Competition, Corvette and my partners GroupAuto, Sparco and Ellip6 at this iconic event.”