Larbre Competition’s return to the LMP2 class has borne fruit as the #50 Morgan-Judd held eleventh place in class after five hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Pierre Ragues started the car, double stinting before handing over to TUDOR United SportsCar Championship points leader Ricky Taylor. Keiko Ihara then immediately took over the car as Taylor pitted again, this time under the cover of the safety car.
Ihara took the heavy lifting, negotiating two sodden safety car periods before handing back to Taylor. The American went on to complete two trouble free stints to consolidate eleventh place.
Reigning European Le Mans Series Champion Pierre Ragues said, “I decided to make a cautious start and let through the Greaves Motorsport Zytek that was hot on my heels, especially as I had already noticed some rain drops falling along the Mulsanne. I encountered a lot of traffic during the last three laps of my double stint, and the speed was also a bit down at the end because of the tyres going off. But apart from that we managed to stay out of trouble amid the accidents and rain. So far, so good.”
“I replaced Ricky when the first Safety Car came out,” added Ihara. “Then covered seven laps shod with wet weather tyres. Even with these the conditions remained pretty tricky out there, so I was pleased with how I managed to finish my stint before handing the car safely over to Ricky after the second caution period.”
Rick Taylor summed up his early involvement simply; “I climbed in the car as the heavens opened, so only did one lap before bringing the car back safely.”
