24h Le Mans
Photo : Jean-Rene Roger - ACO/Nikon
The atmosphere was laden with emotion at the entrance to the premises of Team Pescarolo located in the Technoparc of the 24 Hours, this Monday, January 3rd 2011 at 8.30 am. Eight employees, all former members of the team, arrived in the wake of the great Henri and Claude Galopin, his technical director, to repossess the premises and to once again instill life into the workshop, where 20 people are expected to be working soon. According to M. Pescarolo this will be the renaissance of a team which used to represent the Le Mans region very well, before being destroyed by an industrialist.
Since October 15th 2010, the assets of the team have been acquired by Jacques Nicolet and Joël Rivière at the judicial sale which allowed their friend Henri Pescarolo to take over the premises; a call for private funds which was answered by more than 1000 investors, generated a total of 50.000 Euros; Autovision became a major financial partner, followed by Motul and Nerim which will hopefully be joined by the “Département de la Sarthe”, after the local elections on march 20th and 27th 2011.
Team Pescarolo’s current budget covers the application for the nomination of one car with Judd engine at the ACO for the next 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as for the LMS 2011 season.
The team hopes to raise sufficient funds by the closing date of registrations on January 19th to be able to submit the application for the nomination of a second car to the selection committee of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car’s roll out is programmed for the end of February.
At this time, no driver’s names have been mentioned, but Henri Pescarolo is aware that if he wants to win the LMS title for a third time, he will have to contract very good drivers, which is exactly what he has promised to do.
Photo : LE MANS TECHNOPARC, ATELIER PESCAROLO TEAM, 3 Jan 2011. Henri Pescarolo resumes business surrounded by his loyal employees.
