WEC
Team ORECA-Matmut P2 Le Mans Wednesday Report
Circuit de la Sarthe
Edited: Jun 9, 2011, 6:44 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Conclusive first day for the ORECA 03…
Alexandre Prémat, David Hallyday and Dominik Kraihamer ran lap after lap in order to get comfortable with the Sarthe circuit.
The #48 ORECA 03 from Team ORECA-Matmut signs the third fastest time in LMP2 in the first qualifying session.
The first day of practice and qualifying on the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit was aimed at continuity for the Team ORECA-Matmut and their ORECA 03. In order to perfectly prepare for the race, Alexandre Prémat, David Hallyday and Dominik Kraihamer accumulated kilometres in the car. They completed their program for the day, ending the day in the top three of the LMP2 class.
#48 Team Oreca Matmut Oreca 03-Nissan: Alexandre Prémat, David Hallyday, Dominik Kraihamer takes the green flag
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
After Alexandre Prémat completed the first few laps, David Hallyday and Dominik Kraihamer shared the car during the rest of the free practice. David is making his return to Le Mans in a prototype while Dominik is making his first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans aside from Formula Le Mans. The three drivers followed their established test plan without encountering any issues, and the problem-free running continued during the first qualifying session.
“This first day was positive,” confides Alexandre Prémat. “One of the objectives was to work on the settings. We are headed in the right direction. We eliminated a few small imperfections. We can still progress a bit, but the car is already excellent and easy to drive. That’s what we need. We could have gone searching for a fast time, but that’s not the goal. These sessions were more of a starting point.”
For David Hallyday, the return to the Le Mans legend went “very well.” “As I imagined, you need a little time to find you marks. I’m upping the pace gradually. On this track you expect speed…It’s really quick! I also rediscovered the traffic. The LMP1 are faster and the GT are slower…you have to manage this, which isn’t easy. My two stints in daylight were great. I gathered a lot of knowledge today and I will continue this on Thursday.”
“The ORECA 03 is a new car, the drivers are discovering it, and they are either making their return, or debuting at the Le Mans track ,” explains Hugues de Chaunac. “The planned objective was to manage these different points. This is what the drivers did. We told them not to take any risks. We know that the car is strong but it’s at the end of the 24 Hours that we will have to be there. Having all three of the ORECA 03s in the top five is satisfying.”
Qualifying continues Thursday with two session of two hours each starting at 7 p.m.
-source: oreca
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Next article Toyota Le Mans prototype has support from ORECA for 2012
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Dominik Kraihamer
ByKolles could expand to two cars after Le Mans
WEC
WEC
ByKolles could expand to two cars after Le Mans
Le Mans 24 Hours: Full starting grid in pictures
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24 Hours: Full starting grid in pictures
Positive Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day for Rebellion Racing
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans test day
Positive Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day for Rebellion Racing
More from
Nissan Motorsport
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
Formula E
Formula E
Mexico City ePrix
Five things we learned from the Mexico City E-Prix
Rowland: I was doubting myself a lot prior to Formula E podium return
Formula E
Formula E
Diriyah ePrix II
Rowland: I was doubting myself a lot prior to Formula E podium return
Nissan suggests NDDP moniker no longer suited to #3 drivers
Super GT
Super GT
Nissan suggests NDDP moniker no longer suited to #3 drivers
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
13 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 14 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 15 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe