24h Le Mans
The small French outfit is one of two teams to enter a woman driver to take the start at the 24 Hours this year, and what's more in a car that has already shown itself capable of winning in LM P2 at Le Mans, as it did back in 2013.
PEGASUS RACING (FRA)
Team manager: Julien Schell
Base: Gelspoisheil (FRA)
2015 ELMS results
Silverstone 4 Hours: 27th Roussel/Cheng/Coleman: FRA/CHI/GBR no. 29 Morgan-Nissan.
Imola 4 Hours: 17th Roussel/Cheng/Schell/: FRA/CHI/FRA no. 29 Morgan-Nissan.
Pegasus Racing was founded by Claude and Julien Schell in 1998 to look after the development and running of racing cars. After several titles in sprint categories the team has specialized in endurance events with sports prototypes.
Pegasus Racing entered a Morgan-Nissan for the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in 2014. It wasn’t a newcomer to endurance as it had already raced in the event in 2010 with a Norma MP 200 for Julien Schell, David Zollinger and Frédéric Da Rocha. The team’s 24 Hours got off to a good start but it all ended in tears in the Porsche curves after a racing incident.
In 2009 and 2010 Pegasus also competed in the Le Mans Series (forerunner of the European Le Mans Series). The following year it won the FLM prototype category. Due to a lack of resources to do the job properly it was unable to honour its invitation for Le Mans.
The backing from OAK Racing, the constructor of the car, was one of the reasons that persuaded Claude and Julien to return to endurance as Pegasus Racing ran a Ligier JS 53 in the Euroseries Speed Championship in 2013, a make that has since formed a partnership with Onroak Automotive. The Swiss driver who shared the wheel of the Ligier is in endurance this year with Julien Schell. The third driver in the European Le Mans Series is Brit Jonathan Coleman.
Pegasus racing’s return is the result of an agreement with Schell and Nicolas Leutwiler. The 2013 Speed Euroseries champions shared the Morgan-Nissan in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours with 18-year-old Léo Roussel from the VdeV Championship as third driver. The trio saw the flag in 18th place overall and 10th in LM P2.
This year Pegasus Racing is competing in the ELMS and at Le Mans. The season got off to a difficult start for the car driven by Cheng-Roussel-Coleman. It was involved in an accident on the first lap and rejoined an hour from the end finishing in 27th place. For Imola Coleman handed over his seat to Julien Schell. It was another laborious race for the squad from Alsace renamed Pegasus Racing Team Total and it saw the flag in 17th place after being slowed by brake problems in the final hour.
At Le Mans the team will be backed by Total Lubricants China and two quick Chinese drivers will joining Léo Roussel, Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng who raced for OAK Racing Team Asia in 2014 winning the title. In addition to the ELMS Pegasus Racing Team Total will be taking part in the Chinese round of the FIA WEC, the Shanghai 6 Hours.
