Flick Haigh and Joe Osborne team up once again with Optimum Motorsport for next week’s Road to Le Mans, held at the fabled Circuit de la Sarthe.

Once again piloting the #75 Audi R8 LMS, Osborne and Flick have both shown potential race-winning pace already this year, running at the front at Monza in the Michelin Le Mans Cup before finishing second. The Road to Le Mans is a new challenge for Optimum Motorsport and gives both drivers the chance to prove the proven speed of the package on the 13.6km circuit.

“We have one of the strongest driver line-ups and the R8 has been working really well,” said Team Principal Shaun Goff. “We're taking the speed from Monza – where we should have taken a commanding victory - to Le Mans.

“We can't test at Le Mans, so it will be a bit of a challenge for both Flick and Joe. Some of our rivals have raced there previously and therefore have a huge advantage. But we have shown the speed, so we need to get the maximum out of all of the practice sessions – see where we stand – and then push on from there..."

For Osborne, making his second start with the team this year, the challenge of Le Mans is something he is very much looking forward to.

“We are the only Audi in the whole event so we have to deliver a result that Audi are used to,” said Osborne. “It's going to be a tough race with so many cars on the grid but Flick showed at Monza she was the best AM, so she'll be confident of repeating that.

“I'm really excited about driving my first laps around Le Mans. Hopefully it will lead to more laps in the future!”

The Road to Le Mans consists of two 55-minute races ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first race gets underway at 17.30 on Thursday, the second at 11.30 on Saturday.