Oreca is gunning for a second victory for its 908

Panis, Lapierre and Sarrazin are out to score their second win on the trot

By Franck Drui

17 August 2010 - 07:59
Oreca is gunning for a second victory

On 22nd August, the Le Mans Series will go to Hungary for the first time for the Hungaroring 1000 kms. The Team ORECA-Matmut has two objectives in the fourth (and second-last) round of the championship, part of which will be run at night – score a second outright victory after Portimao, and also bag the maximum number of points in the Drivers’, Teams’ and Manufacturers’ Championships. No changes in the driver line-up since the last round as the no. 4 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP will again be driven by Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Peugeot Sport works driver Stéphane Sarrazin.

In Portugal in July the team’s aims were to win and to learn. These two words will again be the main guidelines for the Hungarian event in keeping with the team’s avowed aim of continuity: “We’ve broken our duck and we obviously intend to score the same result as in the Algarve,” points out David Floury, the team’s technical director. “But as we said before Portimao, we also want to take advantage of the second part of the season to prepare for the future, beginning with Silverstone where we’ll be up against Audi again, and on a more general basis for 2011. Each race gives us an opportunity to make progress in every area including the details.”

The best preparation for 2011 would be a victory in Hungary as Floury confirms: “We’re concentrated on this mission. We take the events as they come and we’re fully determined to win each time. Budapest will certainly be a very tricky challenge, and on this type of circuit the petrol-engined car will be a threat. The traffic will be very heavy, and as the overall pace will be fairly high it’ll be crucial not to make any mistakes. We have to put on a top-quality performance at all levels - drivers, team etc.” The Team ORECA-Matmut will also be thinking of the championship classifications. “Stéphane could be crowned champion after the Budapest race, and we could also consolidate Peugeot’s position as leader in the manufacturers’ ratings and take over first place in the teams’ classification. To do that we have to win: that’s our priority!”

To achieve this aim the team will have to make a successful foray to the Hungaroring circuit, on which ORECA has not raced for several years. Floury sums up: “We’ve never raced there in LM P1 and our last outing on the track goes back to the Viper era. It’s a parameter we’ll have to cope with but we can rely on our drivers’ experience. We also watched the F1 race with a bit more attention than usual (laughs)!”

The event gets under way on Saturday 21st August with the opening practice sessions.

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