Oreca has high hopes for the big final in Silverstone

The Silverstone 1000 kms will be the Team ORECA-Matmut’s last race of the 2010 season. It is the final round of the Le Mans Series and marks the start of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. It is also the first confrontation between Peugeot and Audi since the Le Mans 24 Hours. In Great Britain, the no. 4 908 HDi FAP will be driven by Nicolas Lapierre and Peugeot Sport works driver, Stéphane Sarrazin, as Olivier Panis is retained by his FFSA-GT programme. It will back up the second works 908 of Nicolas Minassian and Anthony Davidson.

The Team ORECA-Matmut will be back on familiar territory as the team has won the Silverstone 1000 kms on two occasions: 2005, and in 2009 with the ORECA 01: “It’s a circuit that we like very much”, smiles Hugues de Chaunac, whose men are tackling this final LMS round with high hopes. “It’s the big final, and a real challenge with Aston Martin and Audi as our direct rivals. Our aim’s clear, a win for Peugeot. If the car in question is the no. 4 908 HDi FAP, I’ll be delighted. We want to score a second victory after Portimao, and this could help Peugeot big good points in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. We’ll be working in close collaboration with the Peugeot-Total team, as we did at Spa and Le Mans.”

The last round of the Le Mans Series will see the Team ORECA-Matmut taking on its old rival Audi again. De Chaunac is determined that his drivers will finish in front of the R15 Plus at the end of the 1000-kms race. “We’re out for revenge. To achieve this we can count on a very quick pair of drivers, Nicolas and Stéphane. This final round of the season is also very important for us. We want to show where we stand, confirm our Le Mans performance at every level: team, drivers, qualifying, in the race, in our strategy, pits stops etc.”

The Team ORECA-Matmut leads the drivers’ (with Sarrazin) and team’s classifications in the 2010 Le Mans Series, and it is determined to win the two titles. “Our aim is to win these championships,” underlines de Chaunac. “If we fulfill our first objective, victory, we’ll achieve our aims as a result. But we’re not going to adopt a softly-softly approach just to pick up a few points.”

Free practice begins on Friday 10th September.