On a hot and sunny day at Circuit de la Sarthe, Pierre Ragues and the Duqueine Engineering team began preparations in earnest for the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the official test day. 

 

Joining a record number of entries across all classes, Pierre got his first taste of the Michelin-equipped Oreca 07 LMP2 around the iconic 13.62km track, as the Duqueine squad makes its debut in this year’s endurance classic. 

 

Pierre participated in two four-hour test sessions on Sunday along with team-mates Nicolas Jamin and Romain Dumas. The trio made an immediately positive impression with the test offering an invaluable opportunity to work on car set-up, Michelin tyre evaluation and to get familiar with the complexities of the famous track.

 

For Pierre, this year’s Le Mans will be his 12th participation making him one of the most experienced drivers on the 62-car grid. It represents one of the most important and personal events of the season for the Caen born driver, who lives just over an hour from the track.

 

Over the eight hours, the team amassed 79 laps with a best time of 3:30.715, placing them eighth on the LMP2 timesheets. For Duqueine Engineering, however, in the team’s first-ever Le Mans 24 Hours, the focus was on acquiring data and experience that will prove invaluable during the event itself in two weeks’ time.  

 

Pierre said: “Today’s test session covered a total of eight hours, and it was an incredibly important and valuable opportunity for the whole team. It’s the first visit to Le Mans for Duqueine Engineering so we have had a lot of data to gather with the Oreca 07 and with the Michelin tyres in order to prepare for the toughest, most exciting but also most gruelling event of the season. Even for me, in my 12th participation, there are new things to learn so it’s a continual learning curve. We have spent a long time today looking at the base set-up and settings of the car, as well as undertaking longer runs to assess tyre wear and performance. The team did a great preparation job and we have covered a lot of important groundwork. We had a relatively smooth day with great weather and lots of track time; I was pleased with my performance even without pushing for lap times. We are now set for the free practice and qualifying practice sessions, ready to get the best out of ourselves and the car. I’m pleased to have my personal partners Yacco, Sparco and Ellip6 joining me on the exciting Le Mans adventure once again.” 

 

 

14:00-18:00 Administrative Checking and Scrutineering 

14:20-14:50 Duqueine Engineering (#30 Oreca 07 – Gibson) 

 

09:30-17:00 Administrative Checking and Scrutineering 

 

10:30-10:45 Drivers’ Photo Session

17:00-18:30 Drivers’ Autograph Session

 

16:00-20:00 Free Practice Session

22:00-00:00 Qualifying Practice Session

 

19:00-21:00 Qualifying Practice Session

22:00-00:00 Qualifying Practice Session

 

17:00-18:30 Drivers’ Parade

 

09:00-09:45 Warm-up Session  

15:00 Start of 24 Hours of Le Mans

 

15:00 End of 24 Hours of Le Mans