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Guillaume Moreau/KTR Driver

Le Mans Series/World Series Formula Renault 3.5

Guillaume's rostrum finish brings the title a step nearer!

Last weekend the Le Mans Series restarted at the Nurburgring after a 3-month break. Luc Alphand Adventures' team had a fairly hectic fourth round, and thanks to the work of the mechanics Guillaume Moreau, Patrice Goueslard and Luc himself finished second in the LM GT1 category in their Corvette C6.R.

Since the start of the 2008 season, Guillaume Moreau and his team-mates have dominated the GT1 category in the Le Mans Series with a couple of victories in Barcelona and at Spa-Francorchamps plus a second place at Monza. Luc Alphand Adventures team's objective was to continue to rack up the points so that they could tackle the final round at Silverstone in a calm state of mind. The Le Mans-based squad decided to take no risks and entrusted the no.73 Corvette to Olivier Beretta and Jerome Policand, while the usual trio of Moreau-Goueslard-Alphand were in no.72.

In free practice Guillaume got down to the job of fine-tuning the set-up to improve his car's driveability. In qualifying the team decided there was no sense in battling for pole and put medium tyres on both Corvettes. Its rival, Aston Martin shod slicks and set the quickest time in the category. Guillaume was happy with his performance: "Olivier Beretta and I set very similar times with only 5/100s between us. I'm very satisfied with my performance as he's one of the top Corvette drivers."

On Sunday, Guillaume again did the first stint of the 1000-km event. After only 20 minutes an incident occurred that was to have serious consequences for no.72's race. 'One of the prototypes tagged me in a tight bend. I didn't really understand what the driver was up to but his front splitter punctured one of my rear tyres. As we touched in the fourth corner I had to do almost a full lap of the track to get back to the pits."

The mechanics did a quick repair job and Guillaume rejoined for a double stint. He pulled back around 15 places before handing over to Patrice Goueslard. Unfortunately, the C6.R was stuck in its pit for a long time. "The refuelling system was damaged when the prototype hit me and we lost fuel. It took the team almost an hour to repair the damage. But they did it!"

It was the start of a new race for no.72. "We had to cover at least 70% of the 195 laps to be classified and score points. Patrice and Luc managed to do so, and we finished second taking advantage of the Lamborghini's reetirement. It was an almost undreamed of result given the problems we ran into, and the technical crew deserves the credit for it, as they showed all their skills in what was a very stressful situation."

Thanks to this second place Guillaume can tackle the end of the season in an optimistic frame of mind. "We just need to score one point at Silverstone to win the Drivers' and Teams' titles, which means that all we have to do is finish. But there's no way we're going to relax. This weekend showed just how easily a race can be won or lost!"

Guillaume kicks off his season with a victory!

Guillaume Moreau's season kicked off last weekend with the Barcelona 1000kms, the opening round of the 2008 Le Mans Series. He teamed up with Luc Alphand and Patrice Goueslard at the wheel of the no.72 Covette C6.R entered by Luc Alphand Adventures, and scored a win in the LM GT1 category. This performance points to a very exciting season's battle with Aston Martin and Saleen.

A few days after presenting his 2008 sporting programme and cars in Limoges, Guillaume Moreau was delighted to be back in the paddock in Barcelona. Luc Alphand Adventures has entered two Corvette C6.Rs in the Le Mans Series and was ready for the endurance season's kick off.

On Friday, Moreau only did a few laps to allow Alphand to get to grips with the Catalonian circuit. On Saturday, the pressure went up a notch as qualifying approached. Guillaume refined the car’s set-up and set the quickest time in the final free practice session. He then went out to fight for pole, which fell to Antonio Garcia in the no.59 Aston Martin who pipped Guillaume by just 4/100s. "I knew that I had only one lap to set my best time. After that the tyres' performance did not allow me to have another shot. I wasn't really on the limit and I reckon I still had another 2/10s in reserve. Even though the Aston Martin just beat us, pole position is a very relative thing in a six-hour event," he summed up.

On Sunday, Moreau had the heavy responsibility of starting the race. The Corvette C6.R was still shod with the medium tyres used in qualifying and proved difficult to handle. "That first stint was really on the limit. Besides the very pointy behaviour of the car, it was difficult to communicate with the team as my radio went on the blink. I soon discovered that I couldn't drink because of a problem with the bottle. In short, I just did my best to hang on to the Aston Martin before handing over to Patrice Goueslard."

The man from Normandy put on hard tyres and set off in hot pursuit of Tomas Enge, who soon afterwards cracked under pressure and went into a gravel trap. This allowed Goueslard into the lead in LM GT1 before handing the car back to Moreau. Guillaume exited the pits just in front of the Aston and tried to open up a gap over his no.1 rival. "I had a good stint: the car was pleasant to drive and I was able to drive pretty quickly while maintaining a safety margin." In just one stint, the gap between the two leaders stretched to 38s. The Sarthe team's confidence received another boost when no.59 retired. Patrice Goueslard and Luc Alphand now had two laps' lead and all they had to do was to nurse the car to the chequered flag.

"I'm obviously very chuffed to have started the championship with a victory. The battle is really intense as we're up against three top-level teams," said Guillaume. "I'm very happy with my collaboration with the team. The ambience is both friendly and professional and I feel really at home. I've a very good relationship with Pierre-Yves Genon, our car engineer. It's exactly what I've been looking for for the 2008 season."

After this successful weekend Guillaume did not leave sunny Catalonia. This week he's back behind the wheel of the KTR Team's Renault 3.5 for a 3-day practice session on the Spanish circuit. It's the last test before the season starts at Monza on 26th/27th April. Like last year it'll be a busy weekend for Guillaume who'll be combining endurance and single-seaters!

www.guillaumemoreau.com