A very productive test day for Pegasus Racing

Chinese drivers David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung swapped seats at the beginning of the morning session fine-tuning the settings on a track that was still dry. Léo Roussel had arrived at Le Mans in the middle of the night after racing in a V de V Challenge round in Spain. He had just enough time to check that the setup suited him before it began to rain. He and Cheng then got down to defining a setup adapted to the wet conditions. On a wet Le Mans track, the two drivers were in the top 5.

In the early afternoon still in the rain no. 29 was particularly quick and was in the top 3 in LM P2 for long time. The track then dried out and without putting on new tyres Tung concluded the session with a brilliant seventh place. Combining the two sessions no. 29 was tenth fastest out of the 21 cars in the LM P2 category that had taken part in the test day.

Julien Schell, team manager: “Our aim was simply to have a car that was easy to drive and that didn’t degrade its tyres too quickly: mission accomplished. Now we’ll be able to tackle Wednesday’s practice on a solid footing. The car was handling very well. We’ll be starting our third Le Mans 24 Hours, but we’ve never raced here in the rain. The changeable weather conditions meant that we were able to test slicks, intermediates and full wets. In all three cases the balance was good. I’m also pleased with the work of our three drivers as they make an evenly-matched trio: all three are equally quick! On Saturday we made a seat that suits them all and that can help us save time in certain race circumstances.”

David Cheng: “It's amazing to be back at Circuit de la Sarthe for the official 24 Hours of Le Mans test. Our #29 Pegasus Racing Team Total Morgan-Nissan ran great as we prepared the set up for the race. With a lot of traffic and limited time in the dry we could post the 7th quickest time in the afternoon even though we know we can deliver more. I was able to be at the top of the charts in the wet conditions which is a positive sign. I have to give credit to our Michelin tyres which were incredibly good in the tough conditions. Looking at the whole picture, Ho-Pin and Léo also had a good pace and we know we have a good package with the car and a strong team.”

Ho-Pin Tung: “I enjoyed every lap again around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, even though the weather conditions were difficult and as a result the driving time very limited. My afternoon session lap was good for P7 which is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Pegasus Racing Team Total and very encouraging for all of us, a good base to continue to work upon next week. The car seems competitive in both dry and wet conditions and I believe we have a great and fast driver line-up with my teammates Léo Roussel and David Cheng. I am already looking forward to next week!”

Léo Roussel: “The test day went off really well. We were able to test a lot of things and it was very productive with encouraging times in the rain. I feel good in the team with David who’s very consistent and Ho-Pin who’s got great feedback and is very quick, which helps a lot when it comes to setting up the car. If we don’t make any mistakes and we’ve no reliability problems we can score a very good result.”

What will be a decisive week for Pegasus Racing Team Total begins with scrutineering in the town centre of Le Mans (place de la République) at 10h30 on Monday 8th June. The first official session is on Wednesday 10th June with free practice between 16h00 and 20h00 followed by qualifying from 22h00 till midnight. Qualifying continues on Thursday 11th June (19h00/21h00 and 22h00/midnight). On Friday the main event will be the Drivers’ Parade in the town centre, and on Saturday at 15h00 the French flag will fall to start the 83rd Le Mans 24 Hours.