On Sunday, June 9, 2024 the Le Mans Heat entrants got the week’s 24 Hours of Le Mans underway. At the end of a fierce battle under glorious sunshine, Team Virage, with its #66 JS P4 driven by Pedro Moreno and Jeronimo Berrio, scored its fourth Ligier European Series success at Le Mans and first for the Colombian duo. In the JS2 R category, M Racing and Natan Bihel took top honours for the second consecutive year.
JS P4 category: Team Virage prevails after a hard-fought race.
The 32 competitors in the Le Mans Heat took to the track in bright Sarthe sunshine for a race with an exceptional flavour in conjunction with the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day.
Starting from pole position, Iko Segret in the #6 ANS Motorsport Ligier JS P4 lost ground on the opening lap to Jeronimo Berrio (#66 Team Virage) and Ian Aguilera (#77 RLR MSport). Romain Favre in the #7 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P4 showed his speed to take the lead ten minutes into the race, ahead of Segret and Berrio. The two were locked in a fierce duel for second place.
Berrio got the better of Segret and passed Favre. The latter gradually closed the gap on Berrio to overtake him at the 30-minute mark of the race. Just behind, the battle raged for the podium places among Theo Micouris (#1Team Virage), Iko Segret (#6 ANS Motorsport) and Ian Aguilera (#77 RLR MSport).
Theo Micouris was the quickest to catch up with his rivals one by one to take the lead ahead of Jeronimo Berrio and Romain Favre. The two Team Virage cars were again battling for the top spot when the pit-stop window opened.
Pedro Moreno, who took over the Team Virage #66, emerged in the lead, followed by Haydn Chance in the Team Virage sister car #1 and Romain Favre. Just behind, Iko Segret continued to fight to catch up to the leaders. Sixteen minutes from the chequered flag, Segret and Moreno were battling for first place. But, the Colombian driver took the lead and extended the gap. Segret then had to contend with the onslaught of Favre. Neither was ready to give up and they swapped second and third place several times. After an hour and a lap of hard racing, Pedro Moreno crossed the line in the lead to give Team Virage its fourth Le Mans victory in the Ligier European Series. It was also Team Virage’s fourth win of the season, the first with the crew of Pedro Moreno and Jeronimo Berrio. Iko Segret, driving the #6 ANS Motorsport, prevailed over Romain Favre (#7 Inter Europol Competition).
Jacques Nicolet took his first win of the 2024 campaign in the AM class in the #58 Les Deux Arbres JS P4 after a close race with Andrew Ferguson in the P4 Racing #27. Yuki Tanaka finished third with the #16 Pegasus Racing. In PRO-AM, the #81 LR Motorsport JS P4 (Pierre Kaffer and Michael Doppelmayr) finished first.
Pedro Moreno, Team Virage, Ligier JS P4 #66, Winner of the Le Mans Heat:
“Winning here in Le Mans is a dream come true. It’s such an historic track. It’s just incredible. We had really tough first rounds at the start of the championship. We are very excited about what’s to come. We are really looking forward to continuing the championship and to keeping getting this kind of result.”
Jeronimo Berrio, Team Virage, Ligier JS P4 #66, Winner of the Le Mans Heat:
“For us it’s a dream to be racing here in Europe and to win a race like Le Mans. The race was really exciting. The first races have been hard on us. We had a lot of electrical problems. To come here, to do the free practice and qualifying and then be able to win the race as we did, a really challenging race, it was really a dream. My stint was amazing. I had good battles and was able to deliver the car first. Pedro did also a great stint to score the victory.”
JS2 R category: M Racing scores its first victory of the season
Natan Bihel, at the controls of the #69 M Racing JS2 R, got a clean start from pole position. He retained the lead ahead of Julien Schell in the Pegasus Racing #29 and Gregorio Bertocco in the Iron Lynx by LRMotorsport #60. Bertocco and Schell battled hard for second place. Bertocco gained the upper hand, but was overtaken a little later by Schell. Just behind them, Clément Moreno in the ANS Motorsport #31 and Clément Mateu in the #89 AGS Event JS2 R battled for fourth place.
After approximately 25 minutes of racing, Gregorio Bertocco had to stop. Natan Bihel in the M Racing #69 still led from Julien Schell and Clément Moreno. When the pit window opened, Natan Bihel was the first to stop, allowing Julien Schell to take the lead. Schell and Moreno eventually stopped, leaving the lead to the #46 No Limit Racing car driven by Sébastien Margot. Coming out of the pits, Natan Bihel lost ground and had to work hard to make up places. Driving the Pegasus Racing #18, Louis Stern took the lead ahead of Clément Mateu.
Natan Bihel was third, but he pulled out all the stops to overtake Clément Mateu and used the slipstream to retake the lead. He then put the pedal to the metal to build a comfortable lead of over 10 seconds. Just behind, Steven Palette, driving the LADC Motorsport #61, came back strongly. He made his way through the field to run in second place and narrowed the gap to the leader to 6.5 seconds. He and teammate Léo Payen gave LADC Motorsport an outstanding runner-up result. Julien Shell and David Caussanel completed the podium with the #29 Pegasus Racing Ligier JS2 R, taking first place in the PRO-AM class.
Louis Stern won the AM class in Pegasus Racing #18, followed by Clément Moreno in the ANS Motorsport #31 and Hervé Tremblaye in the LADC Motorsport #49.
Natan Bihel, M Racing, Ligier JS2 R #69, Winner of the Le Mans Heat in JS2 R:
“I’m very happy with this new victory, to be back in the Ligier European Series and to leave with a win. The start of the race went well. I tried to get as much of a lead as possible from the start to make up for my pitstop penalty. I had a puncture, which put me under a bit of pressure mid-race. I restarted in 5th place but I recovered well. And then I tried to keep up because it’s a circuit where you can quickly make mistakes.”
CLICK HERE for the race results.
CLICK HERE for the provisional standings.
The Ligier European Series will return to action at Spa-Francorchamps on 23 and 24 August after a well-deserved summer break.
