OAK Team Asia Ligier-HPD Completes Successful Rollout

via Adderly Fong Facebook

OAK Racing Team Asia has completed a successful rollout of its new Ligier JS P2 HPD ahead of this weekend’s Le Mans Test Day.

The French squad, which will field the first-ever all Chinese driver lineup in the twice-around-the-clock French endurance classic, was on hand at Magny-Cours last week alongside two Nissan-powered Ligiers that will also debut at Le Mans.

The test at Magny-Cours marked the first time the new Onroak Automotive-developed LMP2 car had run with the 2.8-liter twin-turbo Honda V6 powerplant and Michelin tires.

“There’s been a lot of midnight oil burned in the workshops these last few weeks to get this new Ligier JS P2-HPD out on the track by the deadline,” said team principal Philippe Dumas. “An enormous amount of effort and very competent people have been involved in this project.”

Ho-Pin Tung, Adderly Fong and 2013 Asian Le Mans Series champion David Cheng all joined Onroak factory driver Olivier Pla all turned laps in the closed-cockpit car, which has seen bodywork and cooling adjustments for the installation of the HPD engine.

“It all went off very well in a hard-working relaxed ambience,” said OAK Racing Team Asia manager Remy Brouard. “The whole team has done a huge job to be ready for this shakedown.

“The countdown to the Le Mans 24 Hours is starting. Everything is now in place for us tackle the big circuit during the Test Day on June 1, and help our team to really get to grips with the Ligier JS P2-HPD-Michelin.”

While former A1GP star Tung will make his second Le Mans start, it will be both Fong and Cheng’s debut in the 24-hour race.

“All of us will try our best,” Cheng added. “It’s been nice testing here in Magny-Cours. We’ve had a lot of success with our package of Ligier, HPD, Total Fuel and Michelin tires.

“I think we’ll be good to go and I’m very proud to have Orsun, our Chinese sponsor, with us as well this year.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John