Asia: Okayama: Oreca qualifying report

Team ORECA-Matmut-AIM : In the first three...

Tomorrow, Nicolas Lapierre and Loic Duval will start from third place for the first race of the Asian Le Mans Series.

Like their rivals, the ORECA 01 drivers had two free practice sessions to get to grips with the Okayama circuit..They enabled the team to set up the car and Nicolas Lapierre and Loic Duval to find their marks on the Japanese layout. It was Loic's return to the Team ORECA-Matmut- AIM, and his first time in the ORECA 01. After working on the race in the 2 sessions, Nicolas set the third-quickest time in qualifying between the Pescarolo-Judd and the Lola- Aston Martin only 4/10s off pole. The ORECA 01 will start race 1, which kicks off at 12h00 tomorrow local time, from the second row. The 3-hour event looks like it's going to be an exciting one..

QUOTES:

Nicolas Lapierre (3e): "We had a couple of hours' free practice, which wasn't a lot of running time, all the more so as conditions changed a lot during the day with different track temperatures. It wasn't easy to find the right setup especially as the track had very little grip. It rubbered in slowly and it'll be different for the race. The tyres go off fairly quickly on the circuit, which will be a very important factor like the traffic. We're on the pace and the race is shorter than usual, but it won't be any easier. We'll have to be consistent from start to finish to score a good result."

Hugues de Chaunac, the ORECA Group President: "The race is the most important thing. Qualifying wasn't our priority. We didn't have much time to fine-tune the car and we concentrated on the setup. The sessions were all the more important as tomorrow's race looks like being very hard on tyres. We're on the second row and our aim remains intact: namely, fight for victory."

-credit: orcea