17 June 2026 – Press realease Arthur Rogeon
Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3, round 3, Road to Le Mans, 11 – 13 June 2026
In the curtain-raiser to the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Mans, Arthur Rogeon made a giant step forward in his quest to reach the top level of endurance by setting the fastest time in qualifying for Road to Le Mans and driving his #12 Ligier LMP3 to victory with his team-mate August Raber. Thanks to this perfect race the Franco-Swedish duo from the Brutal Fish by Campos team have put themselves back in contention in the Michelin Le Mans Cup classification!
Sheer speed translated into pole position, a perfect start that enabled the car to avoid incidents in the pack, an ideal strategy and perfect pitstop timing… The team and their drivers managed to avoid all the pitfalls, of which there are always plenty in this race run to a new format, three hours racing on the eve of the world’s greatest endurance event, instead of the twice 60-mn format used in the past.
The endurance racing discipline is thrilling in the sense that the final result depends on multiple interconnected factors. Thus, during the first free practice session the many neutralised zones prevented Arthur from dialling in a quick lap, but his times in the sectors were promising. Like the record in sector 2, but even so a technical problem required an engine change that the team managed to carry out before the second session, in which Arthur set the out-and-out fastest lap. A prelude to his first LMP3 pole position leaving his rivals trailing more than eight-tenths of a second in his wake! Le Mans is, of course, a very long circuit (13,626 km) but this gap is remarkable taking into account the presence of 34 identical specs Ligier JS P325-Toyotas out of the 40 LMP3 protos entered!
”The pole helped me to open up a good lead on the exit from the Goodyear chicane (formerly Dunlop ed.) and to avoid collisions. Race Control imposed several slow zones and the deployment of the safety car once, but we decided to respect our race plan without taking advantage of a situation to put back pit stops. I was in the lead when I handed over to August who drove two good stints between 1st and 2ndplace.”
Arthur got back behind the wheel for the end of the race. He opened up a gap of more than 20 seconds and then found himself faced with a dilemma. ”I caught up with the two Mclarens fighting for victory in GT3. I was not under direct threat from a rival and I could have chosen to remain behind them as the two drivers were locked in a no-holds-battle. It would have been a pity to have tagged one of them when lapping them. It was dangerous too as the GT3s have high top speeds and brake very late thanks to their ABS systems. I was patient and I watched them and then I overtook them one after the other. In the end I did the right thing by not being too cautious as they collided at Mulsanne on the last lap involving two LMP3 s in their downfall!”
That’s what endurance is all about, a mixture of taking risks and leaving a safety margin. ”I’m, really very happy and relieved, because we concretised all the effort we’ve invested since the start of 2026 with the team, my family and my partners. A lot of people watch Road to Le Mans and I hope that the result will open up some doors.” The second half of the 2026 season kicks off at Spa-Francorchamps on August 22.
Photos by Brutal Fish by Campos
