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Larbre Competition is set for this weekend’s official Le Mans 24 Hours Official
Test Day having confirmed its driver line up for the race.
The French squad has been granted an entry to the race for one of their
Saleen S7Rs which will be piloted by sportscar star Christophe Bouchut and FFSA
GT Championship front runners Patrick Bornhauser and David Hallyday.
Multiple FIA GT and Le Mans Series champion Bouchut, who took overall
victory on his Le Mans debut with Peugeot in 1993, will race at La Sarthe with
Larbre for a fourth time, having scored a memorable GT1 podium finish and taken
pole position at last year’s race.
Bornhauser makes his third Le Mans 24 Hours appearance, all of them being
with Larbre. The Frenchman, a four-time FFSA GT Champion, finished fifth in
class in the team’s Aston Martin DBR9 in 2007. He has experience of the Saleen
and, alongside co-driver Bouchut, leads the French GT championship this year and
finished second in class with the team at the opening round of this season’s Le
Mans Series in Barcelona.
Hallyday, son of legendary French pop star Johnny Hallyday, visits La
Sarthe for the third time, but a first with Larbre. He is also currently racing
the Saleen in the FFSA GT championship, where he is a former class champion,
with the team, finishing second recently at Ledenon, and has Le Mans experience
in a GT1 Corvette in 2007 and an LMP Courage C65 in 2003.
Team Principal Jack Leconte said: “Christophe and Patrick have both been
very strong driving together took an excellent second place in their other
international outing during the LMS at Barcelona. David has also got good
experience of the car and although we will be facing a GT1 class full of strong
opposition, we will do our best to compete against them.
“The Saleen has benefited from some important engine developments since
last year and a lot of work to improve reliability. We’ve also have new exhausts
and a new brake cooling system. After the weekend we’ll see exactly where we are
in comparison to the manufacturer teams, always a good reference point in this
business.”
The drivers now head to Le Mans this weekend for the Official Test Day
where all three will get their first opportunity to drive the American-built,
Ford-powered car at the legendary circuit.
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