Morand Racing - Looking back over the great race of the team

But Morand Racing had one major quality: their will to succeed! The team created by Benoit Morand and JoeGenoud who both share the same passion for motorsport engaged their Morgan LMP2 developed by Onroak Automotive and powered by Judd and they all felt most confident on arriving in Le Mans after standing on the podium in Imola just a few weeks ago. The trio of drivers- Franck Mailleux, Olivier Lombard and Natacha Gachnang- combined youth, experience and ….femininity and were determined to be a credit to Morand Racing trackside.

And rivalry was huge on the track ! LMP2 category was undoubtedly the most important one as regards the number of cars involved and their quality ! Then the track was the place to be once scrutineering was over and Franck Mailleux hit the second fastest time in the first qualification session. And it was a very good omen for the race when the Swiss team was qualified 12th overall and 4th in LMP2 at the end of the qualifiers.

The race started at 3pm sharp on Saturday with an excellent start by Franck Mailleux who managed to be in the top 3 of the category before a minor mistake obliged the French driver to go back to the pits. The team then had to move back to the top of the list after being the 25th overall at the end of the second hour, a task they performed in the most impressive way as #43 was back in the16th position 2 hours later with 2 laps only below the LMP2 leader. A place the drivers would keep until half the race was completed with Franck, Natacha and Olivier having double and triple stints on end in the La Sarthe night. But bouts of unpredictable weather together with long periods (adding up to 5 hours and 30 minutes at the end of the race) behind the safety cars, made it difficult, strategically speaking, to move back to the front. The Swiss Morgan Judd had stopped 21 times by early morning for re fuelling, change of drivers and tyres that were performed by mechanics in such an impressive way.

The Swiss squad did not only complete their first Le Mans 24 Hours race but also finished first car of theEuropean Le Mans Series and first car powered by Judd.