Oreca
Oreca ( Or ganisation, E xploitation, C ompetition A utomobile ; German organization, use, competition, automobiles ) is a French motorsport team and racing car manufacturer, founded in 1973 by Hugues de Chaunac . Oreca is mainly active in the sports car sector. Between 1984 and 1988, the company also competed in Formula 2 and its successor series, the Formula 3000 . Team founder de Chaunac also worked for a few months for the French Formula 1 team AGS in 1990 .
history
After the team had been based in Paris for the first few years , they moved to the Magny-Cours track in 1975 . That year the team also won their first major Formula 2 title with Jacques Laffite . With the support of important sponsors such as Elf and Marlboro , Oreca led many French drivers into Formula 1. The team is considered a talent factory, including drivers such as Jacques Laffite, Franck Montagny , Alain Prost , Patrick Tambay , Jean Alesi , Jacky Ickx , Hubert Auriol and produced Yvan Muller . There are only a few racing categories in which Oreca did not start. You drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Dakar Rally , among others .
In 1988 the team moved to the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France to Le Castellet . Hugues de Chaunac gave the company a new impetus by expanding and developing its activities. Two new sectors were created. One was for the sale of spare parts and accessories and for the commercialization of vehicle accessories and merchandising products related to motorsport. This area quickly became the market leader in France. The second sector was involved in organizing events for companies or the public.
In the mid-1990s, Oreca reached a turning point. The development project for Chrysler with the Viper GTS-R gave Oreca the opportunity to move towards high-tech . A new department for racing car development was established. This is based on a research department for spare parts and racing car design and a production department. Oreca also produces a version of the Dodge Viper for the GT3 class and for the Danish Supertourisme Turbo racing series, which was launched in 2015, all silhouette vehicles with a standard 2.0-liter turbo engine.
Sports car
After the takeover of Courage Compétition , over 200 employees are currently working at four different locations for Oreca, which has thus developed from a racing team to a racing company. In addition to the Courage LC70 for the LMP1 class, the Courage LC75 for the LMP2 is also manufactured. In 2008 two of these LC70s were used by Oreca in the Le Mans Series .
But even before that, Oreca was on the road with the prototypes. For example, in 1977 they fielded a Renault-Alpine A442 for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans , but failed to finish the race. It wasn't until 1981 that the next episode of the World Sports Car Championship followed with a BMW M1 . Ten years later, in 1991, Oreca returned to this championship with Mazda. For two years they ran Group C vehicles of the Mazda 787 and Mazda MXR-01 types . In 1992 and 1993, a detour to the Peugeot 905 Spyder Cup followed.
In 2000 Chrysler took part again in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A Reynard 2KQ chassis with a Chrysler engine named Mopar was used. The following year, when Oreca switched to a Dallara SP1 chassis, an honorable success was achieved with a fourth place overall . In 2002 Oreca continued the commitment on its own, but now with a Judd engine. After that, sports car activity ceased until 2005 when they fielded an Audi R8 for Audi France in Le Mans and in the Le Mans Endurance Series.
With the takeover of the ailing chassis manufacturer Courage in 2008, Oreca returned to the Le Mans Series with sports cars after several years in the GT class. For the 2008 season , Oreca used the further developed Courage LC70 , with which the drivers Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre drove to the podium in the 1000 km race in Spa. However, the good result remained the only highlight of the season, two more top 7 placements for the sister car meant only midfield positions in the championship for Panis and Lapierre as well as for Soheil Ayari and Stéphane Ortelli . Nevertheless, Oreca sold several vehicles to customer teams in the Le Mans Series during the winter break. In addition, they constructed a sports car based on the LC70 for the Formula Le Mans junior championship organized in 2009 . In addition , the further developed Oreca 01 car was presented at the second championship run, the 1000 km race in Spa-Francorchamps . At the last round of the championship at Silverstone, the car drove to its first overall victory. The two successful pilots Oliver Panis and Nicolas Lapierre then flew to Georgia with Romain Dumas . In addition to participating in the Petit Le Mans , Oreca presented the Formula Le Mans vehicle to interested teams. In addition, the IMSA announced at a press conference that these vehicles will be tendered in a separate class of the American Le Mans Series from 2010 .
