Gulf Racing 24h Du Mans

You don't have V4, V4 version, only the V3 In terms of teammates, it's really interesting to take part in my first 24 Hours of Le Mans with such experienced people. The team is very young, very dynamic and they are all passionate about motorsports. Gulf Racing Middle East is a team created by Frederic Fatien and Fabien Giroix. Fabien is more than a teammate, he's been a friend for over 20 years in motorsport. I feel good in in this team, it's almost like a family and though it's quite young, the team is highly gifted and will make a lot of progress in the next few months. When was the team born ? Well, we need to go back to 25 years ago, because the current team is a continuation of First Racing, which is a very old team . First Racing was previously called Garage du Bac when I started racing and I've always be involved in this team. The team is now Gulf Racing Middle East. With my friend Frederic Fatien, we have set-up the team, and today we see the creation of this great team as the result of the meeting of two people passionate about motorsports. For the moment it's difficult to set-up a strategy, it'll depend on the weather, it'll depend on the drivers, if they feel comfortable enough in the car to be able to do double or triple stints in order to exploit the maximum of the tires and in order to minimize the time in the pits. Last week, we did some very good test and now, these LMP2 cars are very fast cars. The power is moderate, we only have 450 or 500 hp so it is not the 600-700 hp I've already known in the past but they are very efficient cars with a lot of ground effects and so we have cars that are incredibly fast in everything, like the Porsche corners and all the other corners Between the Carbon brakes, the lightweight car of only 900 kg and especially it's amazing ground effect, it's a really really nice to race here at Le Mans with this type of vehicle. The beginning of the season was very difficult because we got the cars extremely late, so for my co-drivers and myself, it was very hard because we had a lot of concerns since it was the first time that Lola used a Nissan motor, so there were many changes and we did not have enough time to make all these changes. So it took us a lot of time and in Sebring we had so many problems, that car #29 has not been qualified so the beginning was very difficult, but we learn, we are a young team, and we are here to be present for many seasons and not just this season, just like Fabien says, "so it takes" we have to do and organize everything from the beginning and it takes time I have two roles in the team, I'm an engineer for car #28. I take care of everything about the race strategy, gasoline management, tires management, drivers management, setting the car, finding performance and I am also staff supervisor so I am in charge of the team's organization the division of roles the allocation of the work on cars and on the material I take care of the body parts with my colleague Christian so that everything is settled car bodie parts preparation, stickering, the car has to be ready to race Next, during the race, I participate in the wheel changes and I am a mechanic if there is a problem during the race. I am the race coordinator, which means that I coordinate all the team members travels the relationship with the ACO, with drivers, and so on. Actually, all matters relating to the team , except the technical aspects. To be at the 24h of Le Mans? It's magical because it is a huge experience, it really is the race that punctuates the season, it is the largest of the season and it is a lot of organization so this is the end of a few months of work around the 24 Hours of Le Mans. First, we thank all the team because this is a team effort. When you see the mechanics who work day and night to give us a car, to make a great car that everyone is happy with, everyone merits to be thanked. The only thanks is to the team, mechanics and all the people involved in the life of the team. I actually have the privilege to drive with the only woman who will be present at the 24h of Le Mans in 2012, a Japanese women named Keiko Ihara. My Swiss partner is Jean-Denis Deletraz. We're the same age so we followed each others in parallel categories at the same time: he had driven Formula 1 at Pacific, and then drove in GT. I've actually done quite a bit the opposite. I first drove a few races in GT and next in single seater in a F3000 car and prototype after that. So they are really kind people and I think it is very very important for racing and for races as long as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Le Mans, It's my 10th time this year, this is always a special moment because it is one of the greatest races in the world, And it is mostly a human adventure to share with teammates, with a great team around us, with a manufacturer, an engine manufacturer, so it's really a unique experience. We started with a blank sheet at the beginning of the year, we decided really late to take the Lola, to establish the team, and now we can be present with the whole team working in the same direction, this is, I think a challenge greater than the 24 hours of Le Mans and we managed with the whole team to achieve it today. It remains 27 min in the session, you go for 3 laps of heating Ludo Ok no problem, and the other car is not back yet? It is stopped at the entrance of the pit lane We started early in the year with Sebring, the 12 hours of Sebring and we continued with the 6 hours of Spa. We finished second in WEC (World Endurance Championship) at Spa, so for a first result it was really encouraging for us. We are a fairly young team with lots of talent, at all levels. 4:11 pm - car #29 abandonned - Left the track 00:22 am - car #28 abandonned - Left the track