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Onroak Automotive puts Ligier JS P2 on pole at Le Mans

Nissan-powered entry sets a lap of 3:37.609

#46 Thiriet By TDS Racing Ligier JS P2 - Nissan: Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey, Tristan Gommendy

#46 Thiriet By TDS Racing Ligier JS P2 - Nissan: Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey, Tristan Gommendy

Eric Gilbert

With a Ligier JS P2 car on pole in the LM P2 category for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Onroak Automotive has shown that it still has what it takes to be highly competitive at Le Mans.

Tristan Gommendy, running on Dunlop tyres, placed the #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier JS P2 – Nissan at the front of the LM P2 grid with a brilliant lap time of 3:37.609. The time, set ten minutes into the final qualifying session, proved untouchable, and only two other LMP2 cars set times under 3:38.

But that wasn’t the only Ligier JS P2 who did well – the #35 G-Drive Racing by OAK Racing car was 3rd fastest, Jann Mardenborough having set a lap time of 3:37.892 at the start of night qualifying. The third Ligier JS P2, run by OAK Racing Team Asia, suffered from an electrical fault in the final session, but still managed to be placed 15th on the grid. Although they managed to fix the fault, they didn’t get a chance to improve on their lap time.

The best placed Morgan LM P2 was the #26 G-Drive Racing Morgan-Nissan LM P2, with Olivier Pla who managed to get the car into 4th place with a time of 3:38.000. The remaining Morgans LM P2 also managed to improve on their times in today’s qualifying sessions, placing them in 8th (NewBlood by Morand Racing), 14th (Pegasus Racing) and 16th (Larbre Competition). Unfortunately, the Pegasus Racing car couldn’t take part in the final qualifying, as they had a big crash in the second session, but the team say their car should already be repaired by Friday morning and ready for the race.

With the second qualifiyng interrupted by two red flags, and the final session placed under a couple of slow zones, it was not easy for the teams to improve on their times, but Onroak Automotive is very happy with its result so far!

Tristan Gommendy, Thiriet by TDS Racing:

“I am very happy, especially with all with the hard work the team has done ; we got the car very late. Right up until Q2, we were still working on the set-up of the car. I raise my hat to the TDS team, because at one point, it was getting really hard to keep composed mentally, because we never got a chance to have a clear lap or to get the right circumstances with new tyres. Before this opportunity, we didn’t have any idea what we were capable of doing. I am very happy for Guy Ligier, who I hold in friendship and with whom I’ve worked on other cars with, and I hope he’s happy to see his name on top of the board, and also well done to the Onroak team who have done an exceptional job! “

Jacques Nicolet, President of Onroak Automotive:

“It’s a great satisfaction to see a Ligier JS P2, the #46 entered by Thiriet by TDS Racing, on pole position. It’s the result of great team work between Thiriet by TDS Racing and Onroak Automotive. Our first client of the Ligier JS P2 sets pole position for the first race with this new car, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! To complete this fantastic result, the Ligier JS P2-Nissan #35 of G-Drive Racing by OAK Racing, and the Morgan-Nissan LM P2 #26 of G-Drive Racing set the third and fourth best times. The other Morgan LM P2 cars have also performed well. It’s a great disappointment for Pegasus Racing, whose Morgan-Nissan #29 crashed out, fortunately without any injury to Leo Roussel. We will do our best to help them and to ensure that the car is at the start of the race.”

Onroak Automotive

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