Oreca 03: Positive first outing for Prémat and Kraihamer

For its first public outing, the Team ORECA-Matmut ORECA 03 had several missions to accomplish during the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day. As David Hallyday was absent due to a prior commitment with the GT Tour, it was Alexandre Prémat and Dominik Kraihamer who were charged with driving duties in these test sessions – both important for the race (June 11 and 12) and for the teams entering the ORECA 03.

It was Alexandre Prémat‟s first laps with the ORECA 03 powered by Nissan. “It was a nice discovery,” said the Frenchman, who signed the second time in LMP2. “I was able to understand the ORECA 03, which is a car that is easy to drive – very positive. ORECA has designed an excellent car, especially in terms of the aero. The chassis is very good and the behaviour under braking is impressive. Their approach is very professional: the team is very much like the factory teams, and the atmosphere is excellent! We are headed in the right direction and we were able to progress on dialing in the car. Overall it was a positive day.”

Dominik Kraihamer had already driven the ORECA 03 during the 6 Hours of the Castellet. However, he needed to complete the ten mandatory laps for all “rookies.” “I quickly found the rhythm,” confirmed the young driver who had previously raced on the bigger Le Mans track in Formula Le Mans. “To be here with the ORECA 03, it‟s even better than I could have imagined! The car quickly started to work well. We were able to work simultaneously on the tyres, fuel consumption and setup. In the Porsche curves, the car is simply awesome.”

It was overall satisfaction for the drivers, and also the team, as Technical Director David Floury points out: “This Test Day was a day of discovery for Alexandre and Dominik, but also for us. We need to learn how to work together, and these tests were useful to that end. As was our goal, we were able to advance in our mechanical setup and also in the aero department where we tested several solutions. We saw what we wanted to see and we‟ve defined a good “Le Mans” kit. All of the teams running the ORECA 03 will benefit. Speaking of customer teams, Signatech (fastest time), TDS Racing and Race Performance all had good showings finishing in the top 6.”