Le Mans Series

Team ORECA Matmut AIM: Just outside the rostrum

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

After a third place in the Barcelona 1000kms the aim of the Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM was another rostrum finish. The team was waiting impatiently for the second round of the Le Mans Series, which saw the competition debut of the ORECA 01. The new car showed its qualities in the Ardennes as it spent most of the event in the top three.

But two race incidents deprived the team of an excellent overall result In no.11, Panis-Lapierre were in second place before being hit by a tail-ender, and they then lost a certain bostrum finish during the final neutralisation period. In no.10, Senna-Ortelli fell victim to a puncture before retiring a few laps from the end.

The race :
In the no.11 ORECA 01 : Nicolas Lapierre started from the pit lane. He fought his way up through the field lap after lap moving from fortieth place to fifth in only 11 laps. He then battled with the Aston Martins for several minutes overtaking one of the Ginetta-Zyteks. He was fourth at the end of his second stint. He held on to his place until the end of the second hour when Olivier Panis took over and put the car in the first three at the end of his double stint. He then went into second place some 30 seconds behind the leading Peugeot. Nicolas got back in the car and continued his team-mate’s good work before he was hit by a tail-ender after 4.5 hours racing. This incident deprived the pair of second place. They were still on track for third. Then when it was time for their final refuelling stop Panis was blocked at the end of the pit lane by the red light because of the safety car. No. 11 finally saw the flag in fourth place.

No. 10 ORECA 01: Bruno Senna started from fourth on the grid and got up to third in the first corner. After a tough battle with the no.13 Lola-Aston Martin, he suffered a puncture because of debris and had to pit losing 2 laps in the process and falling back to forty-third place. He then began to fight his way back up through the field. Just before half distance Stéphane Ortelli took over from the Brazilian and moved into the top 10. He put in a succession of quick laps and got up to seventh place with 1h 30mns to go. No.10 then stopped briefly for a mechanical check. The car restarted in tenth spot in the top category with Senna at the wheel for the final stint. Bruno began to push very hard and got up to eighth spot in LM P1 before he went off in Blanchimont and retired.

QUOTES :
Hugues de Chaunac: Oreca Group CEO
“It’s a big disappointment. We should have finished on the rostrum and second place was ours for the taking after a great battle on the track. It all went wrong in only a few minutes; on the one hand due to an accident and on the other the appearance of the safety car that cost us a rostrum finish. It’s very tough on the team that has done so much hard work since the arrival of the new car. We’ll have to roll up our sleeves before Le Mans. But there positive points too. The ORECA 01 is quick out of the box and the car’s got real pace. We have to turn all this into results.”

Nicolas Lapierre no.11 ORECA 01, 4th
“It’s a disappointing result. Yet again we lost a rostrum finish. We had second place sewn up when I came upon an LM P2. He put on his right-hand indicator. I went left and he turned in on me! We then lost the rostrum finish because of the safety car. The ORECA 01 is quick and reliable and that’s very positive for its first appearance. We know the car’s got a great deal of potential.”

Bruno Senna no.10 ORECA 01 , retired
“Unfortunately, I had a puncture early on because of debris. My first stint was tricky as the tyres were a bit problematical.
My second was much better as the aero balance was good and the car was handling consistently. At the end I pushed hard to try and catch the car in sixth place before going off. Today, we were competitive and we could have scored a good result, but luck just wasn’t on our side.”