Loïc Duval at the wheel of the Oreca 01

It was initially planned that he would pilot the Peugeot 908, in order to prepare the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But ultimately, Olivier Panis and Nicolas lapierre will be associated with Stéphane Sarrazin, in order to help the Oreca team learn their new mount as quickly as possible. But Loïc duval will still be present this week on the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit.

Victorious last weekend in the second round of the Super GT alongside Takashi Togure, the Honda driver in Japan found refuge in the seat of the Oreca 01 AIM. A car that he knows well, having installed himself there at the end of 2009 for the Asian Le Mans Series. He will be supported by the road captain of this car Soheil Ayari, and by Didier André.

This season, the Oreca 01 AIM changes tire manufacturer, moving from Michelin to Dunlop. Despite the best time achieved at the beginning of March during the official LMS tests, David Floury refuses to be overly optimistic, the weather for these tests having been very wintery.

“The conditions will be different this time and the competition will have had time to prepare more, affirms the Technical Director of the Var team. Concerning us, we have a certain number of unknowns. We are approaching this preparation race with caution and with the desire to assimilate all the new features. We have done sessions with Dunlop, and we have been satisfied with them. But this is our first race with this manufacturer: it will help us to properly assess the potential and longevity of the tires.

The model present next weekend for the opening of the 2010 LMS should be somewhat different from the one victorious at the 1000 km of Silverstone last year.

The Diesels will, once again, be very difficult to find. But the Duval-Ayari-André trio will do everything they can to come out on top. The “petrol category” also promises to be very competitive. It will be necessary to overcome the Aston Martin, the Rebellion, or even the Ginetta of the Mansell family.