OAK Racing en route for Silverstone

Earlier this month, the OAK Racing team announced that they would race two cars in the LMP2 class, but temporarily withdrew the OAK-Pescarolo from the LMP1 Class. Following this decision, the crews have been somewhat revised , with Bertrand Baguette, Dominik Kraihamer and David Heinemeier-Hansson sharing the wheel of the Morgan-Nissan No.35, while Jacques Nicolet, Oliver Pla Matthieu Lahaye and continue in sister car No.24.

After scoring points for second place in the LMP2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, with a magnificent fifth place overall, the OAK Racing team merely those of third place at Spa-Francorchamps.

Recurring worries about the reliability of the Judd engine led the team to spread their risk for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to entered a prototype powered by Nissan. Unfortunately, this change was not enough and the team returned empty-handed from the third round of the championship. Only the No.35 car crossed the finish line, but it is not registered in the entire Championship and did not score points.

Currently ranked third in the LMP2 class, OAK Racing has to score maximum points to stay in the race for the trophy and expects to build on the momentum of the victory at Donington in European Le Mans Series, as explained Matthieu Lahaye, driver of the No.24 Morgan-Nissan: “After scoring victory at Donington in the ELMS, our goal is to record our first WEC win. The 6 Hours of Silverstone will be the last race of the season held on a track that we know, which has its benefits. In addition, this circuit is ideal for fully exploiting the qualities of our car, as we showed with the LMP1 in 2011. I am particularly pleased to be joining up with the usual WEC crew and slipping back into the same habits.”

Dave Davies (quote from team press release)

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE) PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE OF 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, Sunday, June 10, 2012, SCRUTINEERING. OAK Racing will line up two cars in the LMP2 class, the LMP1 prototype being temporarily withdrawn from competition.