French endurance ace Pierre Ragues has set his sights on a top-three finish in class in the 2017 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 85th running of the prestigious, world-renowned motorsport event. 

 

For Ragues, this year’s edition will represent an impressive eleventh participation at Le Mans, which is located just 75 minutes from his hometown of Caen. It has become, over the years, very much a home from home for the racer. 

 

Having contested the endurance classic across all classes from LMP1, LMP2 to GTE-Am, Ragues moves back to the competitive LMP2 category for 2017, joining the Signatech Alpine Matmut team. It’s familiar territory for Ragues, as he claimed the 2013 European Le Mans Series title with the squad. 

 

It was alongside Nelson Panciatici that Ragues claimed that title, so it’s no wonder that they are eyeing a competitive performance as teammates in this year’s Le Mans, with Brazilian André Negrão making up the trio of drivers in the #35 Alpine A470. 

 

The crew made an encouraging season debut at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May, showing podium potential immediately, something they aim to harness at Le Mans. The official test day on Sunday 4 June gave the team and drivers an opportunity to build momentum for the most important event of the season. 

 

Across eight hours of testing, the only chance to drive the 13.629 km Circuit de la Sarthe ahead of free practice, the team set the fastest LMP2 time out of all 25 entrants. They will now use free practice to finalise the set-up of the Alpine A470 before the three qualifying practice sessions, which includes a night session. Pierre, meanwhile, has also had a further session in the Ellip6 simulator to prepare himself for the big event. 

 

As always, no Le Mans week is complete without the popular scrutineering, driver autograph session and drivers’ parade, all of which combine to make Le Mans one of the standout events on the motorsport calendar. Another unpredictable factor will be the weather, which can often arrive unexpectedly and cause decisive changes in race strategy. Just as last year, when the race started under the safety car due to heavy rain, the teams and drivers will also have one eye on the skies. 

Pierre said: “Le Mans is the highlight of the year for me, and it is always an honour to be part of such a great, exciting spectacle. I can hardly believe this is the 11th time I’ve had the chance to compete in the race, but I hope to use all of my experience to help our team to a podium finish. It’s great to be part of the Signatech Alpine Matmut squad again, especially as the memories of our 2013 ELMS title-winning season are still fresh in my mind. I am also thankful to have the support of my teammates Nelson and André; we’ve already gelled nicely as a crew and I’m excited to see what we can do. The official test day went really well, and as a team we left with the fastest LMP2 time over both sessions. We know it will be a tough challenge in LMP2 with so many strong contenders, but we’re also confident in our potential. This race is more than performance over one lap, so we have to make sure we use the practice sessions to prepare ourselves fully and to perform at our maximum level. I have also had another session in the Ellip6 simulator, which has added to my confidence level. Hopefully, after 24 hours, the chequered flag will greet us with a top-three finish in class. As always, I am grateful to my partners for all their support. I hope we can deliver a fitting result for all of us.” 

 

 

14:30-19:00    Administrative Checking and Scrutineering 

 

09:30-18:00    Administrative Checking and Scrutineering 

13:30-14:00    Signatech Alpine Matmut #35 

 

10:30-10:45    Drivers’ Photo Session 

17:00-18:30    Drivers’ Autograph Session 

 

16:00-20:00    Free Practice Session 

22:00-00:00    Qualifying Practice Session 

 

19:00-21:00    Qualifying Practice Session 

22:00-00:00    Qualifying Practice Session 

 

17:30-19:00    Drivers’ Parade 

 

09:00-09:45    Warm-up Session 

15:00    Start of 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans 

 

15:00    End of 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans