Ragues: “I hope to have such an intense season in 2015”

Replaced by Paul-Loup Chatin at Signatech-Alpine, Pierre Ragues was nevertheless able to continue to compete in endurance races. The former champion ofELMS was notably able to participate in the eighth time 24 Hours of Le Mans thanks to Larbre Compétition with whom he will take ninth place in LMP2. “The race was tough but it was one of my best performances at Le Mans. I felt competitive, fast and confident and we fought hard to finish the race close to the top ten.”, commented Ragues.

The 30-year-old Frenchman was also able to return to the European Endurance Championship by competing in the last three races of the season with the Newblood by Morand Racing. His arrival at the Swiss team resulted in a victory at Paul-Ricard (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) and a second place at Estoril (Portugal). “Working with the Newblood by Morand Racing team for the second half of the season in the European Le Mans Series has been great and with Christian Klien and Gary Hirsch we have been able to demonstrate our ability to achieve victories. After our victory at Paul Ricard, where I won the ELMS title last season, we were in contention to win the Championship. We did everything we could and I think we can be proud of our podium in Estoril and in the Championship. »

But Pierre Ragues also distinguished himself in rally, with six starts made on a Skoda Fabia S2000 from Team Deslandes Sport and two on the new Peugeot 208 R5 entered by Team Munaretto, including the prestigious Rallye du Var. “The overall results are positive and my rally part will have been largely rewarded, being above all a fabulous program complement to my endurance activity in addition to my role as Ambassador Alpine." The French driver is now focusing on his program for the next season. “We are all going to have a good end-of-year vacation to relax, but I hope to have an equally rich and intense season in 2015! We are currently working on great opportunities en WEC and ELMS, as well as some beautiful rally tracks, and I hope to have more details on my 2015 program at the beginning of January."