Le Mans VdeV
Nearly champagne at Le Mans
5th May 2011
Ryan and his team mate Derrick Collin couldn't wait to arrive at Le Mans and drive this year's Ligier round the famous circuit, even though it would only be round the Bugatti layout of the track.
Testing went well and after posting the 6th fastest time in practice, both drivers were confident of a solid result in qualifying, and also being very competitive in the Open Class.
Ryan produced a good lap time to secure 8th overall and 2nd in class, but does admit he lost about 0.4 tenths on his quickest lap, which would've made it an all IF Motorsport third row with the sister car taking 5th overall and pole in the Open Class.
Race day and Ryan started the race by doing the first 2hrs 10 mins of the 4hr race and leading the Open Class until he pitted and handed over to Derrick. He rejoined the race in 3rd place overall - all was looking good, and the no. 45 Ligier seemed to be in the same position as they were at round one at Jarama.
Derrick did a fabulous job battling with the reigning champions and kept them in first place in the Open class right up to handing over the car to Ryan to drive the final 1hr of the race.
Ryan was confident a win in class was on the cards, their strategy of earlier in the race was coming into its own - Ryan was producing quickest lap times during this period and was catching the opposition quickly. But the bad luck struck again, a safety car period of 4 laps, which meant the ground Ryan had made up was all lost. It also meant the opposition could do their final fuel stop under yellows and lose minimal time - so therefore when the race went back to green and with only 25 minutes to go, Ryan couldn't get any higher than an 8th overall and 4th in class.
Ryan says "its been awesome racing at this circuit, I'm now a step closer to my ultimate dream of racing the 24hr event, and although we acheived points in the race, I can't help feeling a bit gutted, as both races have slipped away from myself and Derrick after racing well and who should also be leading the Open Class Championship "