Guillaume Moreau admitted that fifth in class was the best that the Luc Alphands Adventures team could have hoped for in the 76th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours after the Corvette outfit finished the event as leading GT1 privateer.
Partnering team owner Luc Alphand and Jerome Policand at the wheel of the #72 Corvette C6.R, Moreau took the chequered flag four laps behind the second of the factory Aston Martin DBR9s and ten laps clear of the sister car which took sixth in class.
Having flown straight out to La Sarthe from
Silverstone after the Renault World Series meeting, Moreau met up with the team ahead of qualifying, where the team elected not to go out chasing a quick time and settled for seventh on the GT1 grid.
"As being a bit higher up the grid has no bearing on the final result, we decided to optimise the chassis set-up and trained for refuelling stops," Moreau explained. "There were a lot of accidents during practice and we spent less running time on the track than we'd estimated. Nonetheless, we were happy with the Corvette at the end of qualifying."
Policand set the qualifying time and also took the start as the car settled into its position chasing the works Corvettes and Aston Martins.
Moreau himself completed five stints behind the wheel of the white C6.R and was given the honour of bringing the car home across the finishing line in 17th place overall.
"Up till the end it wasn't easy," he reflected. "It began to rain again not long before the finish but this time not on all the circuit. In front of the pits the track was soaking wet, and it was dry at the other end. I decided to stay out on slicks and that meant we didn't have to make an additional stop. It felt really extraordinary to cross the finishing line, especially as we had achieved our objective!
