24h Le Mans
Pascal Rauturier is a happy man. Indeed, his team participated for the first time in the European Le Mans Series championship in the LM P3 class at the finale in Estoril (October 17-18). The French outfit's No. 9 Ligier JS P3 was driven by Eric Trouillet, Garry Findlay and Thomas Accary, and finished second in the class.
Le Graff, formerly Graff Racing, is very well-known to motorsports fans, especially endurance fans, with the emergence of young prodigies like Simon Pagenaud, Loïc Duval and Renaud Derlot. The team has competed at Le Mans several times but has had a difficult time of it for a few years as explained by team manager Pascal Rauturier: "I rejoined Graff three years ago. It was painful for me to watch this team fade after its 11 participations at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (between 1980 and 1993, editor's note)."
A few days ago, the new French outfit participated for the first time in an ELMS race with very precise goals. "It was in order to gauge the Automobile Club de l’Ouest regulations. Nothing is better than a race, it replaces all test sessions. It allowed us to meet organizers, to get our bearings and to familiarize ourselves with any number of details. We made note of quite a few small things to sort out and we are going to take care of them this winter to be ready for the beginning of 2016."
Behind all of this is a sole and unique objective: "When I rejoined this team, my goal and my dream were to bring it back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The plan is as follows: in 2016, get to know the ACO/ELMS environment and the LM P3 class. In 2017, await the new car and why not follow up with the Ligier in LM P2 this time."
In this video, Le Graff's team manager describes the adventure.
Tickets to the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 18-19) will be available for purchase on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 (for ACO members) and Friday, November 6, 2015 (for the general public).
David Bristol / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Video: YouTube – Motors TV France
