2nd April 2012

Sébastien Loeb hadn’t planned on being at the Paul Ricard circuit for the debut of his own team in the ELMS. But after his premature retirement in the Portuguese Rally, he was on hand to see his Orcea 03-Nissan driven by Sarrazin-Minassian-Marroc take second place.

He arrived on Saturday afternoon for the qualifying session, which he watched with his friend and associate Dominique Heintz. The car had been delivered a few days earlier, so miracles were not to be expected and Sarrazin couldn’t do better than the seventh-quickest time. This did not upset the equanimity of a team that had been set up quickly and knew that time was on its side.

The next day Minassian had to call on all his experience when he realised straight away that the car was very difficult to drive. He did not rush things, and did a double stint getting the best out of the Oreca without taking unnecessary risks. The team did exactly the same thing in the pits. The youngest member of the trio, Nicolas Marroc, did not wilt under pressure, and towards the end of the event Sarrazin rounded off their good work and clinched a totally unexpected second place given the context.

Loeb was a happy man after the race as he expressed his satisfaction with the work done by his troops: “Our guys worked really hard to get everything ready and they didn’t make any mistakes in the pits. On average we were better than the others during the stops. Now, we’ll have some time to test and prepare for the next step.”

The next step for Sébastien Loeb Racing is outright victory - and why not the title in its first year of existence? The Alsatian team’s Oreca 03-Nisan will be present at the Le Mans test day on 3rd June, and there’s every possibility that Loeb will get behind the wheel!

Text: François Hurel – Photo: DPPI