LeSports by Eurasia Motorsport went fastest in Sunday’s (5 June) official 24 Heures du Mans test at Circuit de la Sarthe, putting itself in a competitive position for its debut in the 84th edition of the legendary French endurance classic later this month (18-19 June).
LeSports by Eurasia Motorsport is proudly flying the flag for Asian motorsport at what is universally recognised as the world’s greatest endurance race – the Le Mans 24 Hours – in 2016.
It stands out as a truly Asian effort with headquarters in the Far East and a crew from the region and a driver from mainland China, Kevin Pu Jun Jin.
Since it was founded in 2003, Eurasia Motorsport has achieved no fewer than 40 championship titles in South East Asia over the course of a decade, and it backed up this remarkable record with campaigns in the burgeoning Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS) and a hugely successful learning year in the 2015 European Le Mans Series (ELMS).
As a result of its achievements, it earned a position on the Le Mans starting grid with its brand new ORECA 05 Nissan LMP2 prototype, and this weekend’s official test served as Eurasia’s first opportunity to pit itself against the teams it will face in the twice-around-the-clock enduro in less than two weeks.
A high-calibre 23-car entry makes LMP2 the most competitive class, but LeSports by Eurasia Motorsport and its drivers – Tristan Gommendy, Nick de Bruijn and Pu Jun Jin – performed remarkably well.
Pu Jun Jin and de Bruijn acquitted themselves particularly well on their maiden outing at Circuit de la Sarthe and a time of 3m36.690s from Gommendy was enough to propel Eurasia to the top of the LMP2 timesheets and tenth overall.
The day consisted of 74 meaningful laps of the 13.6km French racetrack.and LeSports by Eurasia Motorsport’s performance goes some way to silencing doubts over the standard of Asian motorsport, proof that the standard is just as high as the rest of the world.
LeSports by Eurasia Motorsport Team Principal, Mark Goddard, said: “To debut at Circuit de la Sarthe and achieve P1 in the official 24 Hours of Le Mans test is extremely satisfying and I am immensely proud of the team’s achievement. It’s a very professional outfit and everybody did an incredible job. Tristan Gommendy’s lap was excellent, but we appreciate that this is only a test.
“We weren’t trying for a quick time and we weren’t running low fuel and new tyres, so we hope there’s more to come. We are happy because we ran through our test plan and achieved everything we wanted. Nick de Bruijn is already on a good pace and Kevin Pu Jun Jin is getting closer to his target lap time, so it’s a bit of a dream start to Eurasia Motorsport’s first Le Mans.”
