ELMS, Official Test, Paul Ricard - Session 2 Report
Morand fastest

Morgan went fastest in the second session at Paul Ricard, with Swiss lady Natasha Gachnang setting a 1:48.153 in the Morand entered car.  Jota were once again toward the top of the times with their Zytek second, and Michelin shod Signature Alpine third.

Once again, the only GT cars to set lap times were the two Ram Ferraris, with the Mowlem/ Griffin car ahead.  The IMSA Matmut Porsche turned laps for the photo call but was yet to appear during a session.  Similarly, the OAK Racing Morgan remained en garage.

DKR/ Ibanez Racing Service’s Lola Judd set further times but was still uncompetitive – though a number of drivers turned laps.  Ricardo Brandela, Jose Ibanez, Olivier Porta, Christophe Bouchut and Stephane Raffin all drove.  Brandela has extensive GT3 experience with Sport Garage in both Ferrari and Alpina BMW, Ibanez in LMP2 and Speed Euroseries, Porta in LMP2 and GT racing and Raffin in historics.

F1 refugee Jerome D’Ambrosio was in attendance with Boutsen Ginion, but it was unclear whether the Belgian turned any laps in the Oreca.  The Morand Morgan was also driven by Syrian Karim Ajlani, who last raced for OAK at Le Mans in 2009.  He turned a large number of laps in the second half of the session.

For Race Performance, it seems likely the test is done as they suffered a heavy crash with Patric Niederhauser at the wheel.  It was unclear what caused the crash, but the result was a severely battered Oreca Judd.

JY