After two podiums in the Le Mans Series this season, Guillaume Moreau will return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the fourth consecutive year. The Limousin native will drive the OAK Racing Team Mazda France Pescarolo-Judd No. 35 alongside fellow Frenchman Matthieu Lahaye and the Czech driver Jan Charouz. Although the first practice session won’t start until Wednesday at 4 p.m., the wild Le Mans week has already started with Scrutineering, held in the centre of town: “It’s always a special feeling to be here. There is a lot of interaction with the public and there are numerous requests for autographs coming from everywhere. This first day marks the start of the week and everything goes from there.”
With 12 prototypes entered in LMP2, the category will likely be the most contested but a good result come Sunday, June 13 at 3 p.m. is still possible. “This race is different from all others. We know that we are not the fastest in terms of pure performance but we have a real sense of teamwork. The team is well experienced in the Le Mans classic having notched two podiums in the last two years. We proved in the Le Mans Series that our strategy was good. What’s more, we are leading the Michelin Green X Challenge which rewards performance and good fuel consumption. We will do what we do and we’ll see the first results come Wednesday after the first practice session.”
“Le Mans really has a magic about it,” continues the 2008 Le Mans Series champion (GT1). “The event is so unique: a legendary 13 km track, with long straights and public road sections, a night driving experience you can’t find anywhere else and a grid of more than 50 cars at the start. You can also feel the passion of the public, with more than 200,000 people along the track and the atmosphere is quite unique in the camping areas. And to spice things up, there’s always uncertainty when it comes to the weather.”
Next weekend, the Limousin region will be following the action trackside at Le Mans but also the action on the court, with the Basket Pro B finals between Limoges and Pau: “It’s great that the Pro B finals will be held on the same day as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team is coming back to Pro A, the pinnacle of basketball, while I hope as well to carry the region’s colours as high as possible and continue to LMP1, the pinnacle of sportscar racing. I’m thrilled that so many invitees are coming to support me during the most important race of the year.”
Follow Guillaume Moreau’s Le Mans experience in real-time on his facebook page with timing and scoring and a regularly updated photo galleries.
Source : Guillaume Moreau