LARBRE COMPETITION (FRA)

Owner/team manager: Jack Leconte
Base: Le Vigeant (FRA)
www.larbre-competition.com

2015 FIA WEC classification: 7th FIA Endurance Trophy for LM GTE Am Teams (52 pts)

FIA WEC 2016 results:

6 Hours of Silverstone: 24th Yamagishi/Ragues/Ruberti (JPN/FRA/ITA), #50 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (3rd LM GTE Am)

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps: 21st Yamagishi/Ragues/Ruberti (JPN/FRA/ITA), #50 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R (3rd LM GTE Am).

 

     Former motocross rider Jack Leconte set up Larbre Competition in 1988. The team specialised in the Porsche Trophy, made its endurance debut in 1991 and finished seventh in the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours the same year. Since then, Larbre Competition has become a key player on the endurance scene. In 1993, Leconte set up shop on the Le Vigeant circuit, and made his Le Mans debut scoring a maiden victory plus a double in GT2. In 1994, the ‘Normans from Poitiers’ moved up a step with the ex-works 911 Turbo S LM. With a second place at Daytona and four victories in the BPR, Larbe Competition became the team to beat in GT, helped by eighth place overall and its second GT2 victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours thanks to Dupuy-Pareja-Palau. Apart from an accident at Le Mans, 2000 was a great year for the French squad with the N GT title in the FIA Championship for Bouchut-Goueslard. In 2001, Jack Leconte’s outfit did even better by winning the top FIA GT class with the Chrysler Viper driven by Bouchut-Belloc. It also scored a double in the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours and both its cars saw the flag at Le Mans.

     In 2002, it bagged another FIA GT title (with Bouchut), another victory at Spa and eighteenth place at Le Mans. The following year Larbre racked up a double in the FFSA GT Championship with Vipers driven by Goueslard-Defourney and Dumez-Blanchemain. In 2004, the Le Vigeant-based squad won the GTS class in the inaugural Le Mans Endurance Series as the Bouchut-Lamy-Zacchia Ferrari F550 Maranello came first in all four rounds.

     In 2005, Larbre was back in FIA GT with a Ferrari F550 in which Gabriele Gardel won the drivers’ title. In 2006, the team came back to Le Mans Series with an Aston Martin DBR9; it scored victories in Istanbul and at the Nürburgring winning the title with Lamy-Gardel-Vosse. In 2007, Larbre Competition represented Aston Martin in the Le Mans 24 Hours in which Bouchut set pole and finished third in GT1 with Gollin-Elgaard. In the Le Mans Series Jack Leconte’s team was beaten by the Oreca-entered Saleens, which he bought at the end of the season to run a restricted programme in 2008 in the FFSA GT (title with Bouchut-Bornhauser) FIA GT Championships and Le Mans. In 2009, the Saleen was not invited to the Le Mans 24 Hours, but won its class in the Nürburgring 1000 kms with Bervillé-Dumez-Groppi. In FFSA GT, Groppi-Bornhauser filled the runner-up spot. 2010 was an exceptional year for Larbe Competition. Not only did the team win again at Le Mans, but it also bagged the LM GT1 title in the Le Mans Series and the title reserved for GT1 cars in the ILMC.

     In 2011, Larbre Competition entered a Corvette C6-ZR1 with works backing in all the rounds of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup including the Le Mans 24 Hours. Regular drivers were Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal backed up at Sebring by Gabriel Gardel. Larbe was forced to retire in Florida due to engine failure. The French squad also entered a Porsche 911 RSR in the LM GT Am Class in the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours for Bourret-Gibon-Belloc. Larbre pulled off a clean sweep with a double at Le Mans in its class and the Corvette (20th overall) finished a lap in front of the Porsche (21st overall). The rest of the season was equally successful as the French squad clinched its second ILMC title. In 2012 the French team entered two Corvettes in LM GTE Am at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship with the backing of General Motors. The arrival of Pedro Lamy (in the long-distance events) and Jean-Philippe Belloc beefed up Leconte’s team, which transformed its ILMC title into a WEC crown, as well as winning Le Mans again with Bornhauser-Lamy-Canal who finished twentieth overall. It was a hat trick of Sarthe victories for local lad, Julien Canal!

     In 2013, Larbre Competiton celebrated two anniversaries: the 25th of the founding of the team and the 20th of its first outing in the Le Mans 24 Hours.  Jack Leconte was out to celebrate them in style with one Corvette entered in the whole FIA WEC (#50 for Canal-Bornhauser-Rees) and two at Le Mans (#70 for MacNeil-Rodrigues-P. Dumas). At Silverstone and Spa, the #50 finished respectively second and third. A position which placed them among the favourites for another class win, but things quickly became complicated due to a lack of top speed, like the factory Corvettes. The American cars did not seem able to challenge for victory against Aston Martin and Ferrari. The title was lost and the 2014 season was looming with the secret hope of entering the new C7.R. The problem was that they were not yet eligible to compete in GTE AM.

     Jack Leconte rang in the changes and let Julien Canal go to LM P2 with OAK and G-Drive. He received support from Jacques Nicolet who was willing to allow Larbre to race a Morgan-Judd and the team decided to enter the European Le Mans Series with the hope that their the Le Mans 24 Hours entry would be accepted. Initially on the list of reserves, the Morgan-Judd was accepted in late April. Japanese driver Keiko Ihara joined the adventure, and Jacques Nicolet, preferring to throw in the towel for Le Mans was replaced by Gustavo Yacaman at Silverstone in the first round of the ELMS. For the Le Mans 24 Hours, Ricky Taylor, seen in a Corvette in 2013, and Pierre Ragues who had left Signatech-Alpine, were joined by Ihara, the only female driver in the race’s 82nd running. They finished 14th overall and 9th in LM P2. Larbre didn’t race in any other ELMS events in 2014.

     In 2015, the new Corvette C7.R was eligible for the LM GTE Am class so the French team entered one for the FIA WEC and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The driver line-up consisted of quick Italians Paolo Ruberti and Gianluca Roda plus Kristian Polusen from Denmark. The Corvette was fast at Silverstone but its performance was compromised by a stop & go penalty. It finished 25th overall and 7th in LM GTE Am. At Spa, luck deserted the team once again as the car was tagged by a rival and forced to retire. Things didn’t improve at the 24 Hours of Le Mans where Gianluca Roda spun off the track at the Porsche Curves during the warm-up, meaning a race against the clock for the mechanics. The car was ready for the start of the race but the damage turned out to be more serious than first thought with a leaking gearbox. Despite several long minutes lost spent trying to find a solution, the problem would not go away and the car had to pull out on Saturday evening. The Larbre Compétition team were unable to make up for their misfortunes at Spa and Le Mans and although they managed to finish the last five rounds of the season, they never made it on to the podium. In fact, the team finished last in the LM GTE classification at the end of the season.

     For a while, Jack Leconte thought about entering a Corvette in the LM GTE Pro class in 2016, but in the end he will be back in LM GTE Am with the same Corvette C7.R and Paolo Ruberti. Poulsen and Roda have been replaced by the very fast Pierre Ragues, a defector from LM P2, and Yutaka Tamagashi, a Japanese Super GT driver. It looks this was a wise decision for Labre Compétition because the trio finished third in class at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, putting them in good stead for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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