After a productive Test Day, the Sébastien Loeb Racing kept on getting familiar with the 24 Hours of Le Mans during the free practice and the first qualifying session. Vincent Capillaire, Jan Charouz and René Rast took the wheel of the ORECA 03R, garnering as much experience as possible while driving throughout many laps and getting ready for the team’s first participation. The trio is currently 10th of the LM P2’s provisional ranking before the last two qualifs this Thursday.
Local driver Vincent Capillaire started out the free practice session at 4:00pm, before handing the car over to René Rast, also rookie at Le Mans. Vincent got back behind the wheel again before being replaced by Jan Charouz. While the three men were familiarising themselves, the technical team conducted some ‘practice’ tests by collecting as much information as possible, checking the setup of the different elements of the car via all the data. Then a first red flag interrupted the session because of a violent crash of the Audi No.1. Actually, two other red flags were about to come up in the last minutes of this four-hour session. Unfortunately, though the team was following its programme, the No.24 got hit by a Ferrari. In the seat at the time, Jan Charouz came back to the pit with a punctured tyre and some damage around the rear bumper. This is how the free practice session ended, the team reaching an encouraging 9th quickest time.
The Sébastien Loeb Racing managed to do the repairs before the start of the first qualifying at 10:00pm with Jan Charouz. The Czech driver was approaching the top five throughout the first minutes before Vicnent Capillaire went on track. The session was once again marked by two red flags, one of which sealed the evening unexpectedly.
« The car is easy to drive and safe, which is actually quite positive for a 24-hour race » says Jan Charouz. « Generally speaking since the new aero kit arrived, back at the Test Day, our top speed has increased. That is important in Le Mans. Our pure performance is quite good but could be enhanced even more. We can still improve our setup. »
After this first qualifying, the ORECA 03R No.24 is at the 10th position on the provisional starting grid and that is a positive outcome. « That was a good session for the team overall » says Dominique Heintz. « We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. We often speak of Le Mans as a two-week event, it is a long time indeed, but this first practice session is important. It stands as a true kick-start and it is very special. We are at the heart of the challenge now ! We have seen that accidents can happen and actually got scared when the Ferrari hit us. Luckily enough, damage only occurred on the bodywork. The team has worked as expected. It is very intense but the team is there to meet the demand. We are here to achieve a good result and we will do our utmost to do so. The level in LM P2 is so high that the race will be a tough one. »
The qualifying will continue this Thursday with two 2-hour sessions. The team will make the most of them, looking for the best setup for the upcoming race.