This time, it is official. The Oreca #48 IDEC Sport driven by Paul Lafargue, Paul-Loup Chatin and Memo Rojas will be leading the pack of LMP2s. Paul-Loup Chatin secured their pole position by improving his time: 3’24’’842.
IDEC Sport will be setting off in pole position in the Le Mans 24-Hour Race. This exceptional result rewards all the hard work done by the French team. It is clear that IDEC Sport has a great combination with the Oreca, Michelin tyres and drivers, who have all performed well since the start of the season in the European Le Mans Series, but they all wanted to do particularly well in Le Mans. That has partly be accomplished now thanks to the pole position in the highly competitive LMP2 category. Paul-Loup Chatin managed to complete the 13.626 km of the legendary Le Mans track in 3’24’’842 at the start of the third qualifier session. He was beaten by just 3 hundredths of a second by Loïc Duval. The P2 #48 gets pole position because of the downgrading of the rivals.
After this success, Chatin wanted first to congratulate his friend, the former Audi driver in LMP1: “Firstly, well done to Loïc Duval who got a fantastic time. It’s incredible that it comes down to hundredths of seconds on a track like Le Mans,” said Paul-Loup Chatin. “I’m really proud of our pole position. It’s magical to achieve such a result in the Le Mans 24-Hour Race. Our team deserves this position. Michelin and IDEC Sport have done a great job. As Kazuki Nakajima said (Toyota driver who got overall pole position), qualifying is only 1% of the race. Everything is to play for.”
The Oreca #48 IDEC Sport driven by Paul Lafargue, Paul-Loup Chatin and Memo Rojas will be setting off in the top ten overall alongside the CEFC TRSM Racing’s LMP1, which should give them some room at the start.
The cars will not be out today (Friday). The IDEC Sport trio can relax and get over the excitement of last night. The team will be organising a briefing to determine their strategy for the race.
Paul Lafargue, Memo Rojas and Paul-Loup Chatin will also be attending the drivers’ parade in the centre of Le Mans from 5 to 6.30 this afternoon.
