The penultimate round of the 2015 World Endurance Championship (WEC) saw the #43 Morgan EVO SARD clinch a fifth top 5 finish in six races and the team’s second best result of the year with the fourth position in the LMP2 class.
Despite difficult weather conditions, Benoit Morand and his « guys » once again took advantage from the reliability of their car and the consistency of their drivers on the Shanghai International Circuit. Oliver Webb, Pierre Ragues and Chris Cumming regularly gained experience of the track through the practice sessions (7th in FP1, 5th in FP2, 8th in FP3), before qualifying fourth in the class on Saturday afternoon.
As it did in the 6 Hours of Fuji three weeks ago, rain came over Shanghai for race day. The contenders spent 13 laps behind the Safety Car before the green flag was waved again. Oliver Webb was at the wheel and climbed up to P3. Then the British driver kept the pace. After 90 minutes of racing, he was 4th when he handed over to Pierre Ragues during the first full course yellow (FCY). Two other FCYs awaited the Frenchman on a damp track during his stints and he was sixth when Webb took the wheel again just before mid-race. At this moment the Shanghai International Circuit started drying in the last three hours of racing and the Morgan EVO SARD was fifth when Chris Cumming came to the track for the last 80 minutes, in charge of bringing the car home. That he achieved with consistency. He even gained one position in the very last minutes of race. He eventually received the chequered flag in fourth position.
Benoit Morand, the Team Manager’s final word: « We performed great in qualifying, as great as we did in Fuji, Oliver and Pierre did a good job. We set the fastest time by a Morgan chassis at Shanghai. We experienced the same situation as Fuji, starting the race without testing the cut slick and wet tyres. So we used the cut slicks and things went good, we maintained P3 for quite a while. We took the same option after two stints, when Pierre got in the car but he let us know that it was raining too much so the wet tyres were necessary. Once they were mounted, we were faster but we could not take advantage of the wet tyres due to the two FCYs and we even lost about two minutes. But during the following stints, Oliver was one of three quickest LMP2 drivers on the track. When Chris took the wheel to finish the race, we mounted slicks and he drove perfectly. With this fourth position, we are climbing up to fifth in the class provisional standings. So we have a double aim for the Bahrain event : making it again on the podium after our second-place finish at Spa last May, and targeting P4 in the final standings in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 teams. »
After two events in the Far East, TEAM SARD MORAND will fly to the Middle East for the 6 Hours of Bahreïn, the final round of the 2015 WEC, to be competed on Saturday November 21.
Press release Team Sard Morand]]>
