![\"Oak-Racing-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/posts-alms\/Oak-Racing-1.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/p>\nFirst North American race for French team full of opportunities<\/p>\n
One of the teams using the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup to expand its boundaries is Oak Racing. The French team entered Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 for the first time and has its Pescarolo-Judd at Road Atlanta for the weekend\u2019s battle in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new global championship from the Automobile Club de l\u2019Ouest \u2013 governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours \u2013 proved to be just what Oak management needed to cement its Petit Le Mans entry. And it may be the first of many to come. Already the team has said it plans on contesting the full 2011 ILMC \u2013 including Petit Le Mans and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a lot to learn at Road Atlanta, despite our experience at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the Le Mans Series,\u201d said Francois Sicard, Managing Director of OAK Racing. \u201cWe are not targeting a display of raw pace from the car just yet, as we\u2019re up against experienced ALMS teams, competing against a field of cars designed and prepared for the series.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why two days of testing over the weekend were beneficial to say the least. All three drivers \u2013 Jacques Nicolet, Frederic Da Rocha and Patrice Lafargue \u2013 plus lead pilot and driver coach Matthieu Lahaye got seat time Saturday and Sunday. It took a few laps for each to get acquainted with the circuit but after that\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"Oak-Racing-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/posts-alms\/Oak-Racing-2.jpg\")
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNevertheless, I had a great moment of loneliness during my first lap of the track!\u201d said Nicolet, who also is the team owner. \u201cIt is an atypical layout which does not resemble anything I know in Europe. One-third of the corners are blind, the walls are very close to the circuit and it is very narrow. Of some corners I have simply been told, \u2018You will see when you get there.\u2019 But the first day of running went well, under the sun, and I progressed as I drove.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Da Rocha, \u201c\u201cDuring the first laps on the circuit I asked myself what I was doing out there! But, once I had memorized the track, it was a real delight. I was used to an LMP2 with less performance than this one, and I’ve discovered a prototype with real aero and super-efficient brakes. The Pescarolo-Judd is very reassuring for a driver. We have confidence straight away and we can very quickly get close to our own limits without any hesitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday was the first day for Lafargue in a prototype, so it was a double-dose of learning. Plus showers came and went throughout the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI arrived here with a lot of humility and a bit of apprehension, and in addition to this, the rain cost me a lot of driving time during my first day of testing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this is a circuit which keeps its promises! In the race, we will have to keep the strategy simple and be patient, which is not necessarily my strength! But this experience will be very rewarding, as all difficulties are combined here: the circuit is short and technical, often with heavy traffic and the stress that this brings. It is a fantastic education.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Oak-Racing-3\"](\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/posts-alms\/Oak-Racing-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The 1,000-mile\/10-hour Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 is set for 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 2. SPEED will air the race starting at 11 a.m., with live radio coverage available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche \u2013 a production of Radio Show Limited \u2013 as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Americanlemans.com will stream qualifying live starting at 3:15 p.m. ET on Friday, October 1. Visit the Series\u2019 schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" First North American race for French team full of opportunities One of the teams using the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup to expand its boundaries is Oak Racing. The French team entered Petit Le Mans powered by MAZDA 2 for the first time and has its Pescarolo-Judd at Road Atlanta for the weekend\u2019s battle in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9,2120],"tags":[5264,5334,1060,2253,2255,2254,2251,2256,2252,109],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8721,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8719\/revisions\/8721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}