Insight: Preparation The Key For Sean Walkinshaw Racing

Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not just what happens out on track that can decide the outcome of a race. With increasingly greater emphasis placed on what goes on away from the circuit – from the extensive use of simulators, to fitness training and nutrition planning, designed with the aim of giving the driver the best possible chance of maximising their track-time on a race weekend – the age where a driver could rock up, jump in a car and be instantly competitive is now largely consigned to history. The importance of a proper grounding cannot be underestimated and is a philosophy wholeheartedly embraced by BRDC Formula 4 outfit Sean Walkinshaw Racing, who moved to hire Daniel McKenzie as a driver coach to work with their three young charges, Jordan Albert, Nicolas Beer and Diego Borelli as they take their formative steps on the single-seater ladder.

McKenzie (left) chats with Beer ahead of the first race at Snetterton. (Own photo)

“There is a lot to driving, a lot of people don’t fully understand the ins and outs of it,” says McKenzie, a former winner in British F3, now racing a GTE Ferrari in the European Le Mans Series. “Races aren’t won on the weekend by a flash in the pan performance, but from hard work behind the scenes that not everyone sees. And it’s not just the driving in itself but also the mental approach, the nutrition, the fitness part, making sure the whole package is complete.”

“Preparation is everything, from eating the right foods, getting the right sleep and exercising,” agrees team commercial manager Mick Gomme, whose outfit fielded Jack Barlow and Matthew Graham to two wins apiece last year. “It’s really important to get that right. A lot of people who watch motorsport on the TV only think it’s about sitting in the car and peddling it round, but that’s only part of it.”

Driver coaching is a vastly underexplored side to our sport, but one which has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Just as in other disciplines – the top names in tennis are rarely seen without their professional coaches, who lend their expert eye to observe any weak points and help prevent bad habits from setting in – the advice of a professional driver can make all the difference to a young pretender honing his craft in search of those all-important few tenths. It’s an overused cliché, but in motorsport every tenth counts and perfecting the little details can make a significant difference to the overall outcome.

“Times have changed; when I first started out in motorsport I didn’t really have any guidance other than an engineer, who doesn’t always necessarily understand the ins and outs of driving because they haven’t been in that situation themselves, which is fully understandable,” says McKenzie. “If you don’t have that extra pair of eyes to guide a driver, it does make their life a little bit harder to progress.” 

McKenzie's regular mount is this JMW Motorsport GTE Ferrari. Sharing with George
Richardson and Daniel Zampieri, the trio finished third at Imola (Credit: JMW Motorsport)

“If you’re not practising something, then one of your competitors will be and they’ll be using it to get an advantage and be better than you,” Gomme adds. “Dan is a really integral part of the team because he’s been there, he’s done it and he’s currently doing it. It’s great to have someone who’s currently driving because you can have a driver coach that stopped driving five years ago and certain things change. It’s also really important to have a driver coach that the drivers actually like and can get on with, and that’s definitely the case with Dan.

“You’ve got to remember that a lot of these guys are very young, they’re lacking in experience and they’ll get a bit nervous and won’t perform as well. Obviously you can’t beat experience and you have to do it to experience it, but Dan teaches them how to prepare properly. It’s not just about the data and looking at what corners can be improved on.”

In terms of experience, they don’t get much greener than 17-year-old Albert, embarking on his first full season of racing after cutting his teeth in club-level Formula Fords and in Mazdas saloons. The youngster, who grew up a stone's throw from Silverstone, welcomes McKenzie’s tutelage, which he hopes will lead to a championship challenge next year and a successful career in motorsport.

Jordan Albert has shown flashes of promise in his first full season of racing. (Credit: Jordan Albert Racing)  

“He really helps me to become a better driver overall, more consistent, making better decisions and doing the right things at the right times,” says Albert, who currently sits 14^th in the standings with a best finish of 6^th at Brands Hatch. “After every session on track, whether that be testing, qualifying or a race, he’s there to go through the data, point out where I can improve with braking, throttle application or steering application, warming the tyres and general car management. Doing as much as you can when you’re not in the car is really important.

“It’s a slicks and wings car, so there are loads of different setup changes you can make and there’s lots to learn about racecraft as well. It’s very stiff competition; Formula 4 seems to be the place to be for a young driver that wants to make it anywhere in motorsport. It’s a really good place to learn your trade and progress further.”

As for McKenzie himself, coaching has proved a worthwhile and rewarding past-time, not only paying the bills on his weekends off, but also helping improve analytical skills he can apply to his own racing. It’s a give and take relationship which suits both parties.

“If you can pass on some of the knowledge that you’ve gained over the years then hopefully it’s going to be beneficial and give them the best opportunity to develop into a professional driver and have a long-term career in motorsport, but it also makes your self-analysis a lot better,” he said. “You’re always looking to improve yourself and by working so closely with three drivers, learning the different traits they have, the different ways they have of driving round a particular corner, it really does open your eyes to the fact that there isn’t just one way to string together the perfect lap.”

Introducing: Ross Wylie

Ross Wylie has come a long way in a short time since his car racing debut two years ago. Starting out in the Mini Cooper Cup after a successful karting career, the 22-year-old Scot progressed through the German VW Scirocco R-Cup, British VW Racing Cup and now onto British GT, where he and Beechdean Aston Martin team-mate Jake Giddings have their sights firmly set on the GT4 class title. 

Wylie embarked on the start of his GT journey in 2014 with a 
win first time out at Oulton Park (Credit: SRO Media)

Despite a difficult Snetterton weekend, struggling with a lack of front aero and a penalty for a marginally too short pitstop in the second race, Wylie and Giddings continued their strong run of finishes with a second and a fourth that puts them seven points clear of Aston Martin rivals Andrew Jarman and Devon Modell at the top of the standings with three rounds to go.

“The VWs were a good experience because it helped me learn all the circuits – I was hoping to make it into British GT for this year and now here I am!” says Wylie, who won first time out at Oulton Park and has finished every race inside the top four. 

“Of course it’s easy to say that in the next five years I want to be racing in Formula One, but every driver has to be realistic about their ambitions. Realistically I think there could be a future for me in professional sportscar racing, so fingers crossed! GT racing is about driving sexy cars and proper racing; there’s a lot of respect amongst the drivers and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a big learning curve, but I’m improving all the time.”

Wylie hopes to remain part of the Beechdean Racing setup
and move into GT3 in 2014. (Credit: Lewis Houghton)

With fellow Scotsman and Aston Martin factory driver Jonny Adam also in the Beechdean AMR fold, Wylie has the perfect role-model from which to learn and improve as a driver. He harbours hopes of joining his compatriot in GT3 next year and although he admits he is unsure of team owner Andrew Howard’s plans moving forward, Wylie remains optimistic of a future within the expanding organisation. 

“As up-and-coming drivers, it’s great for me and Jake to have someone with Jonny’s level of experience on board to learn from and relate to the things he’s doing,” he said. “Hopefully I can take that on board next year in a GT3 car, but we’re just looking to get this year under our belts and then we’ll look at where we can go with Beechdean after that. We want to win the championship and there’s no better place to try and do it than with Beechdean AMR, so we’ll give it a good crack and see where it goes. But ultimately this is a learning year, so as long as we keep improving, that’s the main thing.”

Expect to hear a lot more of Wylie in the coming years: on this year's evidence, the future is certainly looking bright.

British GT: Beechdean Dominant In Snetterton Race Two

Following a red flag delay, Beechdean Aston Martin pairing Jonny Adam and Andrew Howard converted pole to victory in the second race at Snetterton to keep their title hopes on track, as chief rival Marco Attard hit trouble.  Having stamped his authority on the field by qualifying five tenths quicker than anybody, Adam immediately set about building a gap over the second-placed FF Corse Ferrari of category debutant Adam Carroll to over eight seconds before his pitstop, leaving Howard to stroke it home unchallenged for his first win of the season.

Adam and Howard celebrate their first win of the year
in race two at Snetterton. (Own photo)

“We’ve been strong all weekend, but the cooler temperatures there really made the car perfect,” said Adam. “I felt good before the red flag came out and I knew the car was there, it was a good clean stint. We really needed those 25 points so I’m really happy. Andrew drove really well all weekend and it’s definitely put us in a strong position for the championship now.”

Behind the defending champions, Carroll and Gary Eastwood finished a strong second ahead of the Strata 21 Aston Martin of Paul White and touring car convert Tom Onslow-Cole, who benefitted from the success penalties handed out to the top three finishers in the previous race to score their first podium of the season. With Marco Attard plummeting to tenth in the closing stages, race one winners John Minshaw and Phil Keen completed a remarkable weekend with a fourth place despite their 15-second success penalty, the Trackspeed Porsche passing Mark Poole, Lee Mowle and Ian Dockerill having resumed only eighth from its pitstop.

Adam Carroll impressed en-route to second in the FF Corse Ferrari. (Own photo)

After disqualification from a third place finish in race one, Triple 8’s Luke Hines was pushing to get among that group but was involved in a heavy accident at Riches on lap two that turned his day from bad to worse. Hines, along with Aston Martin drivers John Gaw and Andy Schulz were all eliminated in the incident, which brought out the red flags and necessitated a half hour delay while repairs were carried out to the tyre wall, although all three drivers were thankfully okay.

“I was on the inside of Andy coming into Riches. They’ve changed the profile slightly so it’s tighter on exit and you tend to brake a little bit earlier to rotate the car. As we both braked to make the corner, the Aston of John Gaw went pretty much flat chat into my front right corner and went over the top of me, collecting Andy and putting him in the wall. The impact was so severe, you’ve got two cars with a lot of damage that have gone in the wall at over 100 mph. You just can’t go into a corner that hard and that fast and use other cars as a brake,” Hines said.

“I’ve had all the highs and lows in one day; from one minute a nice third place that closed us up in the championship to now coming away with minus 12 points.” 

John Gaw's Aston was rather the worse for wear after its
 meeting with the Riches tyre wall. (Own photo)

Meanwhile, Bradley Ellis and Adrian Barwick took GT4 honours for the second time this season after the early leaders Team Parker Racing faded following the handover from Mobil 1 Driver of the Weekend Dan Cammish to Barrie Baxter. Barwick's Twisted Team Parker Ginetta had looked to be under threat from Andrew Jarman’s TF Sport Aston before mechanical gremlins struck in the closing laps, opening the way for Century Motorsport to claim second and third for Tom Oliphant/ Rick Parfitt Jr. and Morten Dons/ Aleksander Schjerpen. A stop-go penalty for a too-short pitstop cost Beechdean any chance of a podium, but Jarman’s woes meant Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings would still recover to fourth and retain their hold on the championship lead heading to the next round at Spa.

“The pitstop time from pit in to pit out was too short by 0.7 seconds, but I guess rules are rules and they’re there to be enforced,” reflected Giddings. “It’s obviously disappointing, but the car’s come back in one piece and we still come away with the championship lead because of the problems for the other Aston [of Jarman], so it’s not all bad at the end of the day.

“From the start of the weekend, the Ginettas have really kept us on our toes; we haven’t got the front end aero that they have, so it’s been a question of backing them up and firing it out the corner to try and keep them behind. But I think the car will be really good at Spa; it’s got lots of nice straights for it to stretch its legs and we won’t have the penalty going for the pitstops, so I’m really looking forward to it.” 

British GT: Trackspeed Win To Deny Attard In Snetterton Race One

John Minshaw and Phil Keen took their first win of the year in the in race one at Snetterton to deny championship leader Marco Attard and new team-mate Jonny Cocker. Paired with the 2004 series champion in the absence of regular co-driver Alexander Sims, called up by BMW for the Nurburgring 24 Hours, Attard led comfortably in the early stages from pole ahead of the fast-starting Jody Firth and his Trackspeed team-mate Minshaw, but their five-second success penalty carried over from Silverstone meant they resumed just behind Keen. Cocker gave it his level best and shadowed Keen throughout his stint, but just wasn’t able to pass as the Porsche’s traction off the corners kept him just out of reach.

Minshaw and Keen are congratulated by fellow podium finishers
Attard and Hines, although the latter's position was not to stand. (Own photo)

“It was all looking good, we just needed two more seconds and we probably would have been okay,” rued Attard. “If we hadn’t had our five second success penalty from the last race, we would have been laughing, but all the same we’re really happy with second. We just don’t want to get too many!”

After taking over from Firth, Warren Hughes struggled to keep pace with the leaders but was still set for third, ahead of the chasing Triple 8 BMWs, before a wishbone failure condemned the Geordie to retirement. 

“The rear-wheel was flapping around and suddenly it wanted to turn left,” Hughes reported. “They would have caught me, because we’re carrying 75 kilos of extra ballast, but I would have defended it hard and I don’t think they would have got past. We’ve got decent traction and great torque out of the corners, so there’s always that extra bit of breathing space ahead of the cars behind that have that extra aero. But it’s not a write-off; anything can happen in the next one with incidents and a good first lap. The starting position will make it a lot more difficult for us and I’ll be surprised if we can get in the top 6, but who knows, we’ll just have to see what kind of result we can get.”

Lee Mowle congratulates Joe Osborne on fastest lap. (Own photo)

Hughes’ disappointment initially played into the hands of Luke Hines and Derek Johnston, before a post-race disqualification for Johnston's earlier contact with the Pasin Lathouras Ferrari promoted the sister car of Lee Mowle and Joe Osborne, who also took the race's fastest lap.

“Fastest lap is always a vanity project, there’s no point attached to it, but it’s a cool thing to have," said Osborne, when interviewed before news of the penalty had been announced. "Lee started 11^th and did a mega job, he pitted to me in 7^th so it was up to me to see how high we could get it. Third was definitely achievable, but we just ran out of laps in the end. I had one opportunity with using a GT4 car, but it just all got a bit messy and I got a bit sideways so I had to back off. It’s got to be a calculated risk as there aren’t many obvious overtaking spots around here and you’ve got to be really careful with a team-mate, but it’s a really positive result."

Rick Parfitt Jr. sprays the champagne as Yusuf and Kershaw celebrate victory. (Own photo)

In GT4, local man Gavan Kershaw and Oz Yusuf were victorious in their Lotus Evora, capitalizing on clutch problems for early leaders Century Motorsport during their pitstop which dropped Rick Parfitt Jr. and Tom Oliphant behind the Beechdean Aston of Ross Wylie and Jake Giddings, who inherit the championship lead.

“It was fairly smooth running all the way through to be honest,” said Kershaw, who lives 15 miles away in Norwich. “Ozzie’s initial pace in the first 20 minutes was good and the pitstop went smoothly; we gained about three seconds and then the traffic worked in our favour so we had around a six second buffer I could play with. With the GT3s in front of you pulling away quite quickly, it means we’ve effectively got our own race and we’re not being backed up in the pack. We’re on pole for the next one with Dan Cammish in the Porsche alongside, so that should be a bit of a battle into the first few corners!”

Carroll Pleased With British GT Qualifying Run

Adam Carroll was in good spirits after qualifying second on his British GT debut at Snetterton. The Northern Irishman, who replaces Rob Barff in the FF Corse Ferrari, struggled with traffic around the twisty confines of the 2.9 mile Norfolk circuit, but emerged as the closest challenger to Jonny Adam's Beechdean Aston Martin after team-mate Gary Eastwood had earlier qualified the car eighth for the first of the two races on Sunday.

Carroll is teaming up with Gary Eastwood in
British GT this weekend. (Credit: SRO Media)

“We can’t be that much closer than second,” said Carroll, who was separated from 12^th place Luke Hines by just half a second. “Everyone is super close, as you can see from the times; it’s always been like that here – especially in a Formula 3 car because most of the corners were flat out – but definitely it’s a lot more technical now. There’s more braking zones so there’s more chances to make a mistake, run a little bit wide and get a bad exit, so it’s a harder overall lap.

"A lot of the circuits that you’ve only ever driven in a single-seater are quite challenging in a GT car and there are a few corners that weren’t corners in F3 – you go through and think where did that come from? It just adds a different element to it.”

Carroll hasn’t raced at Snetterton since his Formula 3 days, but testing on the new configuration helped him get up to speed in his new mount, the fourth different GT3 he has sampled in a career that has taken him from BMW to Audi and McLaren.

“I’ve really enjoyed the Ferrari so far, it’s a great car,” he said. “Generally with any car you get into, as long as it’s roughly where it should be, they’re all pretty good to drive. If there’s a different set of tyres on it then the balance can be quite a bit different and that will require some setup work, but you don’t tend to get into a car and find there’s anything really wrong with it – that can’t happen if you go from car manufacturer to car manufacturer.”

With FF Corse already a proven race-winner this season at Rockingham, Carroll is looking forward to a strong finish to help Eastwood’s title challenge and potentially see out the remainder of the championship.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “Like anything, we’ll just try our best and hope that it’s good enough to deliver us a good result. I’m really looking forward to it.”

A Conversation With Nick Tandy

Amid the noise being made about Porsche’s return to the prototype ranks after almost two decades away, Nick Tandy’s return to La Sarthe for the first time since 2011 has understandably gone under the radar. Not that he was ever very far away, but since then, much has changed. After defeating the late Sean Edwards for the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany title, Tandy narrowly missed out on the 2012 International GT Open crown with Marco Holzer and also took four wins in the ADAC GT championship with Christian Engelhardt, earning him the Porsche Cup for the most successful privateer of 2012 and with it, the holy grail of sportscar racing, promotion to a works drive. As well as the added bonus of career stability, the result is a more fundamentally rounded racing driver, better placed to take on the rigours of 24 hours than he was three years ago.

Tandy's last appearance at La Sarthe came with the Felbermayr-Proton
team in 2011 came to an early end. (Credit: Proton Competition)

“The main things it gives you is greater experience of how to work within a team,” said the Englishman, whose main focus is on the United Sportscar Championship this year. “From a driving point of view, of course you will keep improving in terms of speed and experience, but it’s the whole thing of making a car work over the course of a weekend that you really develop and that’s something Porsche does very well. 

"It’s great that they have the factory driver programme in amongst the different race programmes, which is very different to how some of the others go about it and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it.  I wouldn’t have any of this without Franz Konrad and Konrad Motorsport; he took a chance on me when I was brand new to Porsche and thanks to him I was able to show something that nobody else would have got to see otherwise. Everything I’ve done with Porsche and going forwards, it all starts from the foundations and I was very fortunate to have a team good enough to go out there, win races immediately and win championships pretty soon after.”

A racer in the classic mould who will jump in and drive anything and everything – winning twice in four races in the ELMS last season and adding a further three victories on his off-weekends with Trackspeed in British GT as well as outings in the Daytona, Nurburgring and Spa 24 Hours – Tandy’s burgeoning reputation on both sides of the Atlantic is testament to a prodigious speed and work ethic that has served him well throughout his career.

Tandy was the only man who could get close to the all-conquering
RAM Ferrari in the ELMS last year, seen here on route to victory
at the Hungaroring. (Credit: Proton Competition)

“To be honest, I’m a race car driver and I like to go racing,” he says. “Of course if there’s a programme like last year, ELMS was my main focus and that come above everything else, the same with the Tudor championship this year. But if there are free days and free weekends, it makes sense to get in a car because you’re always going to get better, gain more experience and most importantly, we love racing, that’s why we’re here. The more I’m involved with Porsche, the more I get to go racing.

“It’s really nice to have the programme in the States. When I looked at what Porsche were doing worldwide this year; that was really where I wanted to have a go and it’s even better than I was expecting. The championship a really close fight and I’m really enjoying visiting all these new places. I’d never been to Long Beach before and there are many still to come like Indy, where we’ll be racing with the NASCAR guys, so I’m really looking forward to that. And the best thing about the programme is I get to do the two big races – for me at least – on the WEC as well, Silverstone and Le Mans, which is fantastic!”

As Porsche defend their hard-fought 2013 crown against the likes of Aston Martin, Ferrari and Corvette, they do so in the knowledge that with Tandy’s win in the TUSCC season opening Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for Porsche North America, the 911 RSR GT3’s enviable 100% record in 24 hour races remains unblemished. And having had an instrumental role in the car’s evolution over the winter, with particular emphasis placed on aerodynamics, Tandy has every faith in the machinery to put himself and WEC regulars Patrick Pilet and Jorg Bergmeister in contention come the finish, all the more important when considering that Le Mans counts for double points towards Porsche’s world championship bid.

Bergmeister, Pilet and Tandy (left to right) took second at Silverstone,
but will look to go one better at La Sarthe. (Credit: Porsche Motorsport)

“[The record] doesn’t put any pressure on at all, it gives you confidence,” insists Tandy. “One of the strengths of Porsche historically has been their teamwork in endurance events, which explains why they’ve won so many times in so many different disciplines across the world. It gives you confidence that you’ve got that level of support to go there and hopefully run for 24 hours without issues, which you have to do nowadays to be in contention to win a 24 Hour race. Obviously that’s what happened at Le Mans last year and at Daytona, and it’s what we’ll be pushing for again.

“First and foremost, we can’t do anything stupid. Especially as the third driver, you’ve got to be consistent, you can’t risk doing anything silly as it’s about scoring points for the team and helping Porsche win the manufacturers championship. So that’s the main aim, but I’m a racer and we all want to win, so I’ll just race as I normally race; that’s what Porsche have brought me here for and put me in this factory programme. We’ll be going 100% for the win. But that said, anything can happen, that’s just motorsport.”

Rookies Gear Up For 91st Anniversary Le Mans 24 Hours

Among the many storylines heading into the 2014 race is the promising crop of rookies from backgrounds in single-seaters, touring cars and GT racing, ranging from the very young – 18-year old Greaves racer Alessandro Latif is sitting his A-Levels during the week leading up the race – to those well-established in other categories – Filipe Albuquerque, Rene Rast and Alvaro Parente to name but a few – intent on discovering for themselves at the magic of Le Mans. The Motorsport Journal spoke to a few of those aiming to make a good first impression.

Matt McMurry

Matt McMurry attacks Tertre Rouge in testing (Credit: John Brooks)

Once again, this year’s LMP2 field is a full house, so standing out from the crowd will be a tall order. But that’s precisely what American Matt McMurry is aiming for. The 16-year-old, who wasn't even born when Audi star Tom Kristensen scored his first of nine wins at the circuit, will go down in history as the youngest driver ever to start the Le Mans 24 Hours, breaking the record held by the late Ricardo Rodriguez since 1959. With youngest finisher, youngest podium finisher and several more records besides there for the taking, the young McMurry, whose father Chris raced at Le Mans in 2003 and 2008, has a lot to be excited about. Nonetheless, he cuts a remarkably grounded figure for his age, and limited level of experience level. In just two European Le Mans Series outings at Greaves, McMurry impressed many with his mistake-free driving and sponge-like propensity to soak up information, benefitting enormously from the experience of two-times class winner at Le Mans Tom Kimber-Smith and ALMS champion Chris Dyson in what is sure to be a competitive lineup. He says:

“The test went very well. I learned more and more every session and consequently my times went down further and further each time I went out. There is a limit as to how much you can learn, but that’s just because you can never learn everything about a track and be perfect on it. Even if you have been on a track a thousand times, you will still learn something new every lap.

“Since we finished 4th in our previous races at Silverstone and Imola, it puts us in a good position to finish well at Le Mans as well. Greaves will prepare a great car for us, and my co-drivers have been great teammates for me. After almost every session we look at data or video together to find some things for me to improve on and they teach me a ton about setting up the car. It’s incredible how much Chris knows about how the car works and how eloquently he can describe to the engineers what exactly is going on. 

“One of my personal goals for the race is to be clean and to take care of the car, while obviously staying consistent and quick. I also want to learn to be better at conserving fuel and tires while keeping lap times low, and as a team, I think that our goal should be a podium. We finished just outside of it in our past two races, even with an engine that wasn't running at full power at Imola, so I think we have a very good chance of getting up there.”

Harry Tincknell

Harry Tincknell is on form heading into Le Mans. (Credit: Drew Gibson)

For McMurry to score a remarkable debut win, he will first have to topple Harry Tincknell in the similar Zytek ran by Jota Sport. Single-seater convert Tincknell, 22, has been a revelation in his first season of sportscars and is brimming with confidence after taking a debut pole on home turf in the ELMS at Silverstone, a win at Imola and a strong second when up against the WEC regulars at Spa. With ever-improving silver Simon Dolan and the experienced Marc Gene – a winner for Peugeot in 2009 – alongside, the 'Mighty 38' is sure to be in the mix at La Sarthe and will hope for an ideal end to the Journey to Le Mans film which has followed their season so far. He says:

“The test was really useful. You can just concentrate on the pure driving, there wasn’t too much razzmatazz like there is in the race week and it’s a bit of bonus running especially for someone like me who hasn’t been on the track before. I’d done lots of simulator work, so I knew where all the corners go, watched as many on-boards as I could from last year, but nothing can replicate getting in the car and driving.

“We had a puncture which meant that we lost about an hour and a half of running because it did a lot of damage to the bodywork, but I’d rather it happened when it did than next week. I got my ten compulsory laps done in the morning, the first few laps I was just taking it easy but by the end of the session I was in P2 and I purple in the first two sectors. Obviously the track evolves a lot through the day, but I was still around 12th quickest out of the LMP2 drivers, which was very encouraging.

“The Zytek is a really good chassis and it has a little bit downforce than some of the other cars, which is really good from a confidence perspective as it means you can get up to speed quickly, especially in the Porsche Curves. I’ll certainly be disappointed if we’re not competitive. But if you take the last race at Imola, that was a four-hour rollercoaster race and we came out on top at the end of the day, but to think that Le Mans will be another 20 hours more is just crazy. Until the chequered flag drops, you just never know what’s going to happen. 

"The main thing is just to stay out of the pits as much as we can, not have any issues and just tick the laps off, but I think we have the pace; we were very happy [with their pace] relative to the others; Oreca have brought out a new aero kit, the new Ligiers are there and the Morgans are always very strong on the low-drag circuits anyway. There’s going to be five or six really strong cars in LMP2 and we’re definitely one of them. The key is just staying out of trouble and if we can do that then we’ll certainly be in with a shout at the end of 24 hours.”

Alex Macdowall

Alex Macdowall is enjoying his first season of sportscars
with Aston Martin. (Credit: Drew Gibson)

As ever, the GTE-Pro field is once again fiercely competitive, with entries from Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette and Aston Martin and a healthy mix of factory and privateer teams vying for the ultimate honour in endurance racing. Among them is 23-year-old Alex Macdowall, who enters the fray with the Craft-Bamboo Aston Martin team following a successful stint in the rough and tumble environment of touring cars. Acclimatising to high-powered GT cars after several years in a 2.0 FWD Chevrolet Cruze has taken the Cumbrian some getting used to, but MacDowell is growing in confidence with every meeting and recently made a guest appearance in the Blancpain Endurance Series in a GT3 spec Aston to get some extra seat time ahead of the biggest race of his career so far. He says:

“It’s a big change for me coming from a front-wheel drive car, but I’m learning all the time. It sounds a lot more sexy, it feels like you’re in a race car. The Aston has got around 550 horsepower, which is great down the straights and it’s got the aero to match.  It’s quite a smooth, easy car to drive and it doesn’t throw any gremlins at you on the lap. You’ve got to really hustle a touring car around and go for every little gap, whereas in this, if you’re smooth and precise and use the grip that’s there, you’ll do a quick laptime.

“I’m learning as I go along and improving all the time. [Team-mates] Fernando [Rees] and Darryl [O’Young] both have GT experience so I can learn from them which is helpful looking at their data. It’s obviously such a long race, so I don’t know what to expect, we’ll just have to see how it goes.  We’ve got to look at the mental approach, the fitness, all the little aspects that go with Le Mans, it’s going to be really draining, so hopefully I’ll be in a good position to last the race.”

Insight: Journey To Le Mans

June, a month synonymous with the 24 Hours of Le Mans for motorsport fans across the world, represents the culmination of several months of hard work and preparation by British LMP2 outfit Jota Sport, which is set for the big screen in a new film to be released later this year.  James Newbold takes a look at Journey to Le Mans and is intrigued by what he finds…

If you’re a motorsport fan, chances are that you’ve seen, or at least heard of Rush, which documents the highly-charged battle for the 1975 Formula One world championship between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, the Senna movie, or TT3D: Closer to the Edge. Well there's good news; the quality of motorsport cinema shows no sign of letting up in 2014. The latest offing to hit the big screens, Journey to Le Mans, is the story of Jota's 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours, following drivers Simon Dolan, Harry Tincknell and Marc Gene from pre-season testing through the opening rounds of the European Le Mans Series, a cameo in the World Endurance Championship at Spa and finally onto the race itself, the jewel in the sportscar racing crown, this weekend.

Jota's Le Mans 24 Hours is the subject of a new film
to be released later this year. (Credit: Jota Sport)

Certainly, it won’t be short on drama. Le Mans, immortalised by the 1971 film of the same name starring Steve McQueen, is a race truly unlike any other, watched by over 700 million television viewers in 2013 and steeped in over 90 years of tradition, the sheer intensity of the week-long build-up enough to leave even the most seasoned of veterans exhausted even before the start of 24 hours of racing on the 13 km-long Circuit de la Sarthe. Just making it to the finish can be a victory in itself and a proclivity for heart-wrenching late disasters mean nothing is certain until the clock ticks down to zero.

“Le Mans really is one of those very few events that modern day man can really push themselves past the limits of human endurance,” says Journey to Le Mans producer Charlotte Fantelli.

“We did an interview with Marc and he said that he will always fondly remember his Formula One days, but he will look back on his career and the highlight will undoubtedly be winning Le Mans. It’s the sleep deprivation, the psychological side of it as well as the physical side of it; very few people can withstand the gruelling 24 hours.

“But it’s all the preparations and all the things that go into Le Mans that make it such a huge and wonderful event, not just the 24 Hours itself. Its things like the Rocky music playing on the start line, the crowds, the buzz, the streets turning into a track, the big wheel, the music concerts, the campsites, the drivers parades, the scrutineering in the town, all of it is just so captivating and makes it so unique.”

Fantelli certainly knows what she’s talking about; her deep-rooted passion and infectious enthusiasm for all things automotive is abundantly evident and with an array of talent both on and off screen including avid car enthusiast Sir Patrick Stewart, is determined to do the spectacle of Le Mans justice.

Filming has been underway since the end of last season. (Credit: Fantelli Productions)

“We’re doing it as a 90 minute feature film, which will then be re-cut for television and we now have 56 channels across the world interested in taking it, including ITV4 in the UK," she said. "The cinema cut was something we really wanted to do considering the incredible talent we have on and off screen; we’ve got Patrick Stewart, the Top Gear guys and I've had some great support from people like Mark McQueen, TJ Scott and Grant Wardrop, so it’s definitely cinema-quality talent and they will end up with very high quality pieces of television.

“There’s a clip where [Top Gear cameraman] Iain May and his precision driver are coming around the Jota car and you can see the whites of Simon’s eyes at 60-70 miles per hour; the focus is just amazing. These guys know their motorsport and that’s reflected in what they do. TJ Scott flew in for LA for Silverstone and came on board wholeheartedly with the project. To be involved with something that has such heart has really captivated people, even Patrick Stewart; he read his script with the heart and passion of someone who really knew and who really cared. He’s been in some of the biggest grossing films and TV shows across the world and there he is talking so lovingly about being involved in these little UK shows because of how passionate he is about motorsport.”

Of course, everyone is hoping this weekend brings a happy ending to a story which has already had its fair share of rollercoaster moments so far. Pole position and a race win at Imola was the perfect response after a colossal impact at Silverstone – when Dolan was edged onto the grass by a backmarker while leading comfortably with just an hour to go – serving as a timely reminder that in endurance racing, everything can change in an instant.

Marc Gene, Harry Tincknell and Simon Dolan (left to right)
finished second at Spa in the WEC. (Credit: Drew Gibson)

“That certainly added some drama to the film; Simon couldn’t really have done any better if it had been scripted!” Fantelli laughs. “I think the world of Simon, so now that I know everything’s fine, from a producer’s point of view I can say ‘well that was good.’ Obviously at the time our hearts were in our mouths, we were all waiting in the garage for around half an hour to find out what had happened. The TV coverage of it had stopped, we’d lost radio contact with Simon and it was all a bit scary. 

“You’re reminded in a very dramatic fashion just how dangerous this sport is. All of us in our line of work, whether that’s being stood in the pits in our fireproof suits with cameras in our hands or behind the wheel of a sportscar, we forget how dangerous it is and it opens your eyes a lot to what you’re actually dealing with. With all the rules and regulations, the right equipment and the good team and the professionalism, everything feels very safe, so we were all reminded quite dramatically that it’s still not a risk-free sport.”

A strong podium finish among the WEC regulars at Spa and a competitive showing at the test day last week mean that with their proven car, Jota are sure to be in the mix and Fantelli has every confidence in the team to deliver the goods.

“Jota are a fantastic team in many respects, they’re a fantastic bunch. Harry is so excited to be there, he’s a breath of fresh air and Marc is the consummate professional; he’s got a real spark and a suave about him and he’s a fantastic guy to work with. And Simon, he’s hugely talented and one of the most driven people I’ve ever met in everything he does. He doesn’t do anything half-hearted and that’s something I admire hugely about him. It shows in his driving as well; he’s undoubtedly one of the quickest silver drivers out there and the more he works with the Audi drivers all he will do is take that and keep improving. I’m very excited to see what they can do.”

Now, we wait.

Driver’s Eye: Harry Tincknell

This season has had a bit of everything so far; the big disappointment from Silverstone, jubilation in victory at Imola and all the rest. We’re also doing a few bits back at home with our preparation physically, mentally and with the boys in the workshop as well. Hopefully it will give the general public a really good idea of what goes into the Le Mans 24 Hours; I’ve certainly noticed this year that more people who aren’t too informed about motorsport have heard about it than Formula 3. Hopefully it will capture the imagination quite well. It’s been a slightly unexpected spin-off from signing with Jota that I didn’t expect at the start of the season, you never know I might end up in Celebrity Big Brother or something like that!

Charlotte does a very professional job and she knows when we have to focus on our stuff and when is a good time to do the interviews and extra stuff we need for the film. The whole idea is that it’s a fly-on-the-wall sort of thing just following us around, so they do a very good job of merging into the background quite well. You’ll be having a debrief with the engineers and the microphone will appear above your head, but they do a great job of following the action without getting in the way or interfering too much. I’ve seen a few clips and it all looks very high quality, the TV production guys and cameramen they’ve got working on it are all very experienced. It’s going to be fun and hopefully it’s a big success and we’ll do our best next week to make a good end to the story next week by getting a good result in the actual race that will top off what I think will be a really good film, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how it looks at the end.