The LMP2 class is always one of the more competitive categories of the 24h Le Mans race weekend, and 2019 is expected to be no different.
One of the teams hoping to challenge for a good result is the Cetilar Racing Dallara car, of Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Andrea Belicchi.
The team remains the same from last year, with the sole change coming in the form of veteran Italian Belicchi, who replaces former Formula 1 driver Felipe Nasr.
The car showed consistent pace during Wednesday’s rain affected running, with the team setting the thirteenth fastest time in class.
Speaking after the first session, the drivers were in good spirits regarding the pace of the car. Lacrote said: “My first impression is really good. Giorgio was very fast in qualifying. The car is perfect – it made some progress comparing to the last year, especially in the fastest part of the track.”
“We have still work on the braking. Definitely we are on the right way. Despite some traffic, our Dallara was very stable and easy to drive”.
It was difficult conditions for all the drivers out on track, and Sernagiotto spent a considerable amount of time out in the tricky conditions: “In wet conditions we spent all the four-hour free practice to test some solutions adopted after the test day. In qualifying I set a very satisfying lap time.”
“We finished on thirteenth, that was not bad. Although I was hoping something better. I am convinced we can do better today… maybe the other too”.
Belicchi is the most experienced driver out of the three at the world’s most famous race, with the 42 year-old taking part in every race since 2007. The team will hope this can help going into Thursday’s second and third qualifying sessions.
“Wednesday was a positive day. Despite the changing weather conditions, we finished our setup work. We are not still completely Ok. We are on the right way. The car was perfect and we are pretty happy of the result… continuing working for the race”.
