Le Mans Series

Oreca announces Courage takeover

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

During a press conference at Silverstone today Hugues de Chaunac announced that Oreca has bought Courage Competition. The announcement ended a week of rumours regarding Oreca’s plans. The press statement from can be found below.
Hugues de Chaunac has already mentioned it several times, the Oreca team has a double ambition : to enter the top LM-P1 class and to build its own car to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Needless to say, such a programme cannot be undertaken without a real strategy !

In buying out this week the cars’ manufacturer "Courage Competition", Oreca is giving itself the tool and the expertise required for this project to enter into its active phase. The project of the future prototype should be unveiled in early November.

It is an industrial project, with the claimed will to build and to sell prototypes for long-distance racing, in various categories from 2008 onwards. «The buy out of Courage Competition opens interesting opportunities for both companies, not only in the sport but also from the industrial, commercial and strategic points of view» considers Hugues de Chaunac, the Chairman of the Oreca Group.

«The 25-years’ experience of Yves Courage in building his own prototypes for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will considerably reinforce Oreca’s chances when tackling this new challenge. This is the reason why Yves’ personal involvement will remain important during the coming months, in order to fully succeed with the integration of a 3rd pole of activities, located in Le Mans, which adds itself to those based in Signes, in the South of France, and in Magny-Cours (Oreca engines’ division). Today, I am proud to claim our determination to become a leading player in long-distance racing.»

Yves Courage : «This is a welcome opportunity for Courage cars to be supported by such a strong concern as the Oreca Group. I see it as the best possible option to guarantee the future of a company born through passion and which can only survive thanks to this spirit. But, at the same time, it must develop other activities to prosper. This is what Oreca has been able to achieve with so much success. Together, we can only get stronger !».

Additional info from the press conference:

• There will be a presentation of the teams plans in Paris at the end of October;
• The team will be named Courage/Oreca from the moment the first car is finished;
• The car will be build at the Technoparc in Le Mans;
• Customer cars will be build.