Team Sard Morand and the #43 Morgan EVO SARD once again proved competitive and consistent, finishing fifth in the LMP2 class on the Circuit of the Americas (CoTA), located near Austin (Texas).
Whatever the result, the 6 Hours of CoTA was meant to be a milestone in the history of the Swiss team. For the first time, Benoit Morand and his « guys » competed outside Europe, since this race marked the first stage of the overseas half-season of the World Endurance Championship (WEC).
For the fifth round of the 2015 WEC, TEAM SARD MORAND’s line-up included two British drivers, Archie Hamilton and Oliver Webb, and Pierre Ragues from France, who finished fourth at the Nurburgring three weeks ago. The « good old » Morgan chassis remained once again the best open-cockpit car in the LMP2 field and also battled in the top 5 against the most recent state-of-the-art closed prototypes. This resulted in a fifth position under the chequered flag and more points in the team’s provisional standings. TEAM SARD MORAND now aims at podium finishes and another final top 5 in LMP2 standings.
Pierre Ragues: « For everyone of us, the race weekend of the 6 Hours of CoTA was important because it was the first event of a series competed overseas. So we had to find a different organisation. »
Oliver Webb: « In Free Practice, we tried to improve a lot and we actually did since we had a good pace in qualifying. We clinched another top 5 finish after a great battle. »
Pierre Ragues: « I think we made it good on a racetrack everyone in the team and drivers’ line-up discovered. We finished fifth battling with the cars in P4 and P6 until the last meters. »
Archie Hamilton: « The weekend has gone ok, we should really have finished on the podium but I think the team can make it in the next races. »
Pierre Ragues: « The most positive aspect after this weekend is that we reduced the gap to P3. That gives us great expectations for podium battle in the next race. »
Benoît Morand, the Team Manager’s final world: « Once again the guys did a great job through the whole weekend. We were always fine in free practice – especially with the third time in Practice 3 – and we started the race from the fourth position in the class. We remained competitive in the top 5, just as we did at Spa-Francorchamps and at the Nürburgring. I think that a podium finish is within reach, this will be our primary goal at the 6 Hours of Fuji. I also would like to congratulate Chris Cumming, who will fill in for Archie Hamilton in Japan, for his LMPC second position in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship race at CoTA today. »
TEAM SARD MORAND will fly to Japan for the sixth round of the 2015 WEC, to be run on the Fuji Speedway on Sunday October 11.
Press release Team Sard Morand
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