in his first ever endurance race
Brazilian ace finishes third in the opening round of the Le Mans Series
Bruno Senna claimed a well-deserved third spot for Oreca Team in the opening round of the Le Mans Series at Barcelona circuit. The 2008 GP2 Series runner up joined regular monegasque Stéphane Ortelli in their way to the podium for the French squad in the 1.000 km distance-race won by the AMR Lola shared by Stefan Mucke, Tomas Enge and Jan Charouz.
The Brazilian driver was clearly pleased with his début in endurance events. "I think we did our best, given the circumstances”, commented the seventh qualified in the grid. Bruno drove the Courage Oreca LC70 AIM in the first stint and by the middle of the race rejoined in good shape, moving up in the time sheet and allowing his partner to keep the pace in the final turn. "Our car needs further development. Our best lap was two seconds down the Aston Martin, even tough our pace was just one second slower during the race.”
For Bruno, racing in the Le Mans Series is expected to be another valuable experience on his journey to Formula 1. Despite the differences between the previous single-seaters categories he raced until last year, Bruno liked the 650 BHP-engined car. "It was quite interesting. I had a lot of fun. Looking at the spirit of the race, I enjoyed as much as I could. Traffic is tricky, mainly when you find two or three slower cars in the same corner. In these times, everything becomes impossible to predict.”
Le Mans Series next round will be held in Spa-Fracorchampos on May 10th. Bruno will come back to one of his favorites circuits as a preparation for his début on the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Catalonian 1.000 Km top 10 finishers:
1 – Stephan Muck/Tomas Enge/Jan Charouz, Lola Aston Martin, 209 laps in 6h00min05s674 (162,107 km/h)2 – Jean-Christophe Bouillon/Christophe Tinseau, Pescarolo Judd + 14s8843 – Bruno Senna/Stéphane Ortelli, Courage Oreca LC70 AIM, 2064 – Pierre Ragues/Franck Mailleux, Courage Oreca LC70 Judd, 2065 – Danny Watts/Nick Leventis/Peter Hardman, Ginetta Zytek, 2056 – Bruce Jouanny/João Barbosa, Pescarolo Judd, 2037 – Andrea Piccini/Thomas Biagi/Bobbi Matteo, Lola B08/80 Coupé Judd, 2018 – Olivier Pla/Miguel Amaral, Ginetta Zytek 09S, 2019 – Giacomo Piccini/Andre Ceccato/Filippo Franconi, Lola B08/80 Coupé Judd, 19510 – Stuart Moseley/Pierre Bruneau/Nigel Greensall, Radical SR9 AER, 193
