AUSTIN, Texas (September 20, 2014) – The No. 26 G-Drive Racing machine, constructed by Onroak Automotive, finished fourth in-class in today’s FIA WEC 6 Hours, after starting on the LM P2 pole position. The team took to the 3.427-mile circuit at Circuit of the Americas with the new Ligier JS P2, powered by Nissan and with Dunlop tires, which was driven by Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal.

The six hour event was very eventful for G-Drive Racing. Over an hour into the race, heavy rain started to fall on the circuit, creating dangerous driving conditions, so the race was red-flagged. During the team’s pit stop throughout the red flag, they were placed a lap down. With one hour and 45 minutes left in the race, the car sustained damage after having contact with another car and launching over one of the circuit’s curbs. Despite this, the team demonstrated great teamwork repairing the car and getting it back on-track a few minutes later. The 6 Hours presented an opportunity for the new Ligier JS P2 to excel, following their successful qualifying effort.

“We had a frustrating race,” said Philippe Dumas, Team Principal. “However, I think it was a very good weekend for Onroak Automotive. The Ligier JS P2 is very competitive. After this weekend we are sure that the car is super fast and safe to drive. It was 100 percent reliable the entire weekend. The race was a mixture of bad luck and some drivers mistakes. That is racing and sometimes, that is going to happen. We still have four races to go and we will fight until the end because we still have a chance to win this championship. ”

Olivier Pla took to the wheel first and had a bit of a difficult start, dropping to third. He battled for the remainder of his stint, bringing the car back to P1 before coming in for a driver change a little over an hour into the race.

“This was a disappointing race for us,” said Pla. “However, we had great pace at the beginning and today we showed that the car is really fast. It is also very consistent and during the first stint, was easy on the tires. That allowed me to push very hard at the end of my stint. It wasn’t the finish we wanted, but we got pole position for the race and showed that the car is fantastic.”

Roman Rusinov was next in the No. 26 Onroak Automotive machine and stayed behind the wheel for a little over two hours. The Russian driver experienced heavy rainfall while in the car, an hour and a half into the race. It was then red-flagged due to dangerous driving conditions.

“When the rain arrived, we were leading the race by more than 40 seconds. We were a bit confused by the race red flag procedure today,” said Rusinov. “The team wasn’t sure how we could be leading the race in LM P2 and then have lost a lap following the red flag. Even that could not stop us and I had managed to get back close to the leaders. On a positive note, our car was very competitive and managed good lap times. Olivier (Pla) and I earned the best two lap times in the LM P2 class. The whole G-Drive Racing team was impressed by how well the Ligier JS P2 performed. ”

With two and a half hours left in the race, Julien Canal took over for his stint. Just 45 minutes after getting in the car, Canal experienced contact with another car and drove over a curb. This caused damage to the No. 26 Ligier JS P2, so he brought it in for repairs. The team was able to get back out fourth in-class.

“I learned a lot during this race,” said Canal. I did some good things, but also had some mistakes including a main one while I was pushing to catch the leader of the LM P2 class. I had slick tires on a wet track, which was difficult. But, I was recovering distance when I was surprised by a LM P1-L slow in the turn. I violently jumped on a curb producing damages on the car. We brought it back to the garage, but we lost a lot of time to repair it, and we lost a reachable win.”

Roman Rusinov completed his second stint for G-Drive Racing after repairs to the car were made. He maintained fourth-in class before switching drivers with Julien Canal one final time prior to the checkered flag. By Extreme Speed Motorsports not competing in the full FIA WEC season for championship points, G-Drive Racing was able to gain more points towards their championship fight, being halfway throughout the 2014 season.

The winners of today’s race in LM P2 was the No. 47 KCMG Oreca 03R-Nissan, followed by the No. 27 SMP Racing Oreca 03R-Nissan in second and the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX 03b-Honda in third.

The next race for G-Drive Racing in the 2014 FIA WEC season is the 6 Hours of Fuji, which will take place on October 12.