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Minassian and Gené join ORECA at Petit Le Mans
Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené join Nicolas Lapierre…
Connoisseurs of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, the two factory Peugeot Sport drivers will bolster the Team ORECA-Matmut lineup for Petit Le Mans.
At the end of the month, Team ORECA-Matmut will participate in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, marking their return to the States after winning the 12 Hours of Sebring at the start of the season. For this classic endurance race, the No.10 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will be driven by a strong driver squad : regular driver Nicolas Lapierre will partner with Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené.
« This lineup, both quick and experienced, underlines the close partnership between Peugeot Sport and Team ORECA-Matmut, » explains Hugues de Chaunac. « As Loïc Duval will be busy with his SUPER GT schedule, we wanted to have two drivers who knew the Peugeot
908 HDi FAP well. And we also wanted two drivers who were familiar with Road Atlanta. This is the case Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené, who together with Nicolas will form an excellent trio. »
The driving squad at a glance…
With Team ORECA-Matmut since 2008, Nicolas Lapierre has become a cornerstone of the team. He has two wins in Le Mans Series, which he finished in second place in the points in 2010, and an overall victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. His new teammates, Peugeot Sport factory drivers since 2007, actively participated in the development of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. In fact, they were the drivers who gave the car its first success, together, at the 1000km of Monza in 2007, before finishing as runners up in the Le Mans Series championship in 2008 (two wins). Marc Gené then became the first Spanish to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2009, also taking top honours at the 2010 edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Nicolas Minassian has won the 1000km of Spa (2009) and 1000km of Silverstone (2010).
The three drivers for Team ORECA-Matmut are no strangers to Petit Le Mans. Nicolas Lapierre finished 5th in 2009, in the ORECA 01. While Marc Gené reached the second step on the podium in 2010. Nicolas Minassian also finished second, on two occasions in 2008 and 2009, author of the pole that year. It will be a homecoming of sorts for the Marseillais, who drove for ORECA on several occasions, including 2000 and 2002.
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Hughes de Chaunac is a clever man –
both Minassian and Gené (and Lamy) are the drivers who will probably have to leave the Peugeot works team for 2012, whereas Loic Duval will probably get a “promotion” into the works team. Thus, ORECA takes this opportunity to get a lot of Peugeot 908 driving experience into the team and to receive an impression of both drivers for the 2012 choice.
I think the choice was made by Peugeot, and they just wouldn’t give Oreca the top guns. But for Gene and Minassian they have pressure to show they still got it.
And since Peugeot is probably paying the salaries Dechaunac would just say O.K
it wouldn’t have been hard for DeChaunac to find top flight drivers on his own, if he wanted.