Last minute invitee to the Official Test Session of the Le Mans Series, Bruno Senna got his first taste of a prototype behind the wheel of the Courage-Oreca number 10 sharing driving duties with Stephane Ortelli and Soheil Ayari. Just before the second session, Hugues De Chaunac and Bruno Senna gave a press conference. The president of the Groupe ORECA is “very happy that Bruno Senna is present for this day of tests. I realize his main goal is F1 and that he works hard for this. We’ve been in contact for the last six weeks and we met in London. If things don’t pan out for him in F1, we would be happy to have him with us. We will meet again in a few days to discuss our future together.”

The brazilian will only run on Sunday, confirms Hugues De Chaunac: “Bruno will only be here on Sunday. He will drive until midnight because he must return to Brazil. This afternoon, he will do a double stint and will then get back in at around 11pm for some night running.”

After his first few laps, Bruno Senna gave his impressions : “The Courage-Oreca is heavier than a formula car, even if in some areas, notably in terms of aerodynamics, they are similar. I was also able to see what it was like with traffic and how to anticipate overtaking GTs. I would like to thank Team ORECA for giving me this opportunity. I have to adapt my driving style to the car because it’s different from what I’ve experienced before. The approach is different.”

For 2009, the brazilian’s objective remains: “My priority is still F1, where I’m trying to find the best compromise. If I had the opportunity to do thousands of mile in an F1 car, even if only in testing, I would not have a chance to do anything else. But seeing how few miles a test driver can do, I need to find something.”

When it comes to choosing the other drivers for Team ORECA-Matmut, Hugues De Chaunac explains: “The final decision should be made by the 27th or 28th of March. Petter Solberg is not here because he is testing his WRC in Cyprus. He was very excited by his experience. For now, Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Ortelli are signed on for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In Le Mans Series, the duo of Panis/Lapierre will be in one of the Courage-Orecas but it’s still open in the second car.”

The obvious question for Bruno Senna was to know what it was like to run on the Paul Ricard circuit, a place that his uncle and Alain Prost had so many memorable battles on: “I love racing and I’m not trying to imitate or do better than what Ayrton did in the past.”

Rainier Ehrhardt and Laurent Mercier