Graff-SO24 chose the city centre streets of Le Mans last night to unveil its Oreca 07-Gibson that will line up for the 87th 24 Hours of Le Mans. Vincent Capillaire, one of the three drivers of the LMP2 entry, had the unique opportunity of driving the car down to Place des Jacobins where a sizeable crowd had gathered for the occasion. “It was incredible for me to bring my LMP2 into the streets I drive down all year,” enthused Le Mans-born Capillaire. “The idea was to acknowledge the history of the 24 Hours when drivers travelled to Le Mans in their own racing car. I stepped on the gas quite hard and got up into third gear when I was in the tunnel that leads to Place des Jacobins. This operation wasn’t easy to set up but that’s when you realise that we’re stronger when several people pull together.”

Capillaire, Jonathan Hirschi and Tristan Gommendy will once again share the driving duties in the #39 Oreca 07-Gibson, LMP2 runner-up at last year’s 24 Hours. The French team is approaching this year’s race full of optimism following the car’s brace of fifth places in the opening two rounds of the European Le Mans Series at Le Castellet and Monza. “We did well last year at Le Mans,” Graff team manager Pascal Rauturier said. “But we have to remember it’s an extremely long, tough race so we have to stay grounded. Test Day will be important to make sure we’re well prepared as we have a new tyre manufacturer [Michelin instead of Dunlop]. We have high hopes following our solid start to the season. We now have to make sure our drivers and technical crew are ready.”

Capillaire, meanwhile, is looking forward to doing battle out on the track in a quality 20-car LMP2 field: “We’ve been preparing for months. We aim to give it our best shot and we’ll see where that takes us when the chequered flag comes out at 3pm on Sunday 15 June.”