It wasn't easy out there. I had a slow puncture during my double stint in the night and had to pit for new tyres but, apart from that, we didn't had any major problems [until the end]. I finished my stint just before the rain started and both Christophe and Benoit have done an excellent job to keep the pace going. The conditions were constantly changing from 4am onwards and, every time the track started to dry, the rain tyres began to suffer. But Le Mans isn't supposed to be easy and I think we can all be proud of ourselves this evening.
Tinseau revealed that the Judd-powered Pescarolo 01 had been plagued by a misfire in the closing stages, but the problem was not enough to allow ORECA to close the gap that had been established during the night. With the second Pescarolo entry sidelined, the sportscar veteran and his comparatively inexperienced co-drivers were able to nurse the car home.
Our mission was to finish as the first petrol car and I am proud to have achieved our goal," Tinseau noted, "It was very tense at the end as we had a misfire caused by the starter motor and we were hanging by a thread, but I hope this victory will now help Pescarolo Sport attract the input of a big manufacturer which the team so richly deserves.
This is a great day for us because we knew there were two races within the LMP1 class," team principal Henri Pescarolo concluded, "We have been victorious in the latter against Lola, ORECA, Creation and Dome, which is a great achievement. The three drivers were fantastic because the conditions have been so difficult. They have all driven perfectly and I am absolutely delighted for them.
Unfortunately for Pescarolo, the #16 sister car driven by Emmanuel Collard, Jean-Christophe Bouillon and Romain Dumas lost six minutes having an engine control unit replaced, and then succumbed to another engine problem at 0624hrs.
