Ogier judges his first steps at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

He is one of the attractions of this 90^e edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans. After a long career in Rally, which he has not yet finished, Sébastien Ogier attacked theEndurance, one of his great passions, and more particularly to the classic Le Mans race.

After two “warm-up” rounds at Sebring and Spa-Francorchamps, the eight-time world rally champion arrived in Sarthe for his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After a Test Day, two free practice sessions and qualifying this Wednesday where he gradually warmed up, Sébastien Ogier delivered his first impressions and notably highlighted the progress made by his Richard Mille Racing team since the start of the season .

« It's going pretty well, recognizes the Gapençais. Charles (Milesi) had a good qualifying performance this Wednesday. The 7th^e time is a good result for us. I feel like we've taken a step forward compared to previous races where we struggled a bit with the car and the balance. We feel more comfortable there. »

From a personal point of view, Sébastien Ogier was rather satisfied with his first laps. The discovery of the Le Mans track went well for the Habs, aware that they still have room for improvement and a few tenths to gain before the big start this Saturday at 16:00 p.m.

« I was able to do 9 laps during the day and 9 more at night, I feel like I'm always saying the same refrain (Laughs). Of course I would like more but I will have the opportunity this Thursday and of course during the weekend, continues the teammate of Charles Milesi and Lilou Wadoux.

I'm starting to understand more and more where I can save time. I now have to manage to put all of this together and as regularly as possible to be efficient. I didn't experience any particular heat apart from passing over a few curbs which should be avoided, at least for 24 hours, because I quickly understood that these cars are solid only up to a certain point. You can quickly damage aerodynamic elements. If you damage them very early in the race you can suffer for a long time. It is on these points that we will have to pay attention.

La nuit a peut-être été plus difficile par rapport à ce que je prévoyais, en tout cas le premier vrai tour. Il y a quelques sections du circuit qui sont dans le noir comme Indianapolis ou l’entrée des Esses Porsche. Il m’a fallu quelques tours pour prendre des repères."

Sébastien Ogier was able to discover his Oreca 07 N°1 in night conditions. ©DPPI/G. Hazard

Sébastien Ogier will have two final free practice sessions (15:00 p.m.-18:00 p.m. then 22:00 p.m./midnight) to get his final bearings before taking the first start of his career at the 00 Hours of Le Mans.

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