Friday 23 July 2010

Pierre Ragues and the Signature Plus team registered their maiden podium finish in the Le Mans Series at last weekend’s 1000kms of Algarve with a fine drive to third place. The result came after Pierre started the race from second on the grid, the highest placed petrol-powered car. Here, Pierre looks back on a successful weekend.

You must be pleased with the result of Portugal?
“The result from Portugal was fantastic and is the result of a lot of hard work by the Signature team this year. We had a disappointing weekend in Le Mans for the 24 Hour race and we were confident we could come back stronger in Portugal and we did just that. It is easy to forget that we started this year with a completely new package - a competitive Lola Aston Martin and a new tyre supplier in Dunlop - but everything is working together much more harmoniously now. We had a great team spirit throughout the weekend and we were able to set a good pace in qualifying and the race.”

It was not a trouble-free weekend, though, was it?
“We did experience a few problems over the weekend, starting with an electronics issue on Friday which stopped us from running in the first practice session. Qualifying went well for the team and I was able to start from the front row of the grid. I got a good start to the race and was very competitive in the first stint, keeping pace with the Peugeot in front, but I was penalised with a 30 second stop-go penalty for a pit lane speeding infringement. We lost quite a few places as a result of the penalty which I was pretty annoyed with because it was such a small mistake.  We also lost radio communication for most of the race which made for quite a lonely race at times!”

Does it mean a lot for you to take your first podium in LMP1 after your past successes in LMP2?
“It was definitely a good feeling to get a podium and be the fastest petrol car. It was always going to be tough to fight for the outright win because of the strength of the diesel car, but we were keeping good pace with them in my first stint and I feel we could have taken second without the problems. I have had success in LMP2 before but it feels good to celebrate the first Signature podium and my first podium in LMP1, especially considering how young the Signature team still is in the Le Mans Series. We have a good car and we still need to keep making improvements in terms of the car set-up and the tyres, but hopefully this result will be a sign of things to come for the final two events of the year in Hungary and Britain.”