You would be forgiven for thinking a constructor’s role stops at the point of sale. Not so. When a racing team buys a prototype like the Ligier JS P2, they get more than a car. The after-sales service is all-important.

Sébastien Metz: Onroak Automotive provides a support and maintenance service for the car and on top of that Oak Racing offers a bespoke support service to teams. This year we have upgraded the Onroak Automotive support service. We have a truck at all LM P2 and LM P3 races. We have set things up so as to be in permanent contact with our clients in Europe, the USA and Asia. We provide technical and engineering services, plus logistics and even accounting.

Metz knows that by attending to his teams with care and being on site at every race, he gives them a better chance of winning races. For the moment, the effort has paid off: the Ligier JS P2 won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring: When we deliver a car, we want to optimise its performance. The closer we work with our clients, the more they get out of our cars. Onroak Automotive monitors parts and helps with assembly, dismantling and general maintenance. The company goes the extra mile by issuing recommendations on set-up. Advice on suspension and aerodynamics, for example, give teams a good base to start with. We give our teams a basic set-up plus special kits. For example, we have a sprint kit for the European Le Mans Series and a special low-downforce kit for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We also recommend specific gearbox ratios and suspension calibrations for each circuit. We don’t claim to have a magic set-up for each situation, but our experience is useful guidance. After that, teams tweak the set-up according to their own requirements and adapt it to individual driving styles, tyres, track conditions and so on.

Metz takes on the role of engineer on site at each race. He has a sales manager and a specialist mechanic with him, plus a team of engineers working at distance back at base: With a whole team on site, we can react quickly and efficiently. If the car comes off track or is involved in an accident, the mechanic’s trained eye is very important. He or she will always know what to look for, which parts to check.

Onroak is not the only constructor in LM P2. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the International Motor Sports Association and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), have selected three other constructors authorised to build prototypes as of 2017: Dallara, Oreca and Riley Tech/Multimatic.

You will soon have competition, so how will you be retaining your customers? As a group, we can provide an array of services and I think that’s an advantage. For a team that runs a CN, a constructor that works in LM P2, LM P3 and possibly even LM P1 demonstrates a certain savoir-faire and can attend to all requirements. They have faith in us. When the person that designs an LM P3 has also designed an LM P2, that sends out the right signals. Compared to other constructors that only work in one class, we have an impressive set-up.

Geoffroy Barre - Translated from French by Emma Paulay

Photo: Sébastien Metz, manager of the LM P2 division of Onroak Automotive in Le Mans. The Magny-Cours site works on CN and LM P3 cars.