Sanchez determined to continue learning curve

Mexico’s Ricardo Sanchez hopes to continue his upward learning curve in 2016 after being retained as part of Nismo’s global motorsport programme for a second season.

Sanchez only made his racing debut last year after being crowned 2014 GT Academy International winner and took a maiden podium in the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone alongside Jann Mardenborough and fellow rookie Gaetan Paletou.

But while Paletou was not retained for a second season, Nismo decided to keep faith with Sanchez and placed him in the Blancpain Sprint Series alongside Sean Walkinshaw, where the pair will contest the Silver Cup in a GT-R NISMO GT3.

Pictured here at the Nurburgring, Sanchez will return to Blancpain
this year, this time the Sprint Series (Olivier Beroud). 

Although he has only driven most of the circuits on the BSS calendar on his Playstation, the 26-year-old is looking forward to the challenge and expects to get better as the season goes on.

“It’s challenging for me because it’s a different format, you will have to push even more because it’s just half an hour for each driver, but I think the biggest challenge for me will be the new tracks,” he said. “I don’t know Brands Hatch, I don’t know Barcelona, Misano – I’ve only done a few laps on the sim, although I really enjoy Brands Hatch, especially the first corner, you need some cojones! 

“Something that people won’t see from the outside is that in Endurance race weekend you only get about ten laps, twelve laps if you’re lucky before starting the race, so I hope in Sprint Cup we can get more running. In Endurance because you have longer stints you can adapt during the race, but in Sprint you can’t afford that.”

Sanchez didn’t get to drive at all at Monza after the Nissan was afflicted by rising oil temperature, but quickly made up for lost time and impressed at Silverstone and Paul Ricard. His confidence enhanced further by emerging unscathed from a Spa 24 Hours held in conditions bordering on the biblical, Sanchez was lapping within a tenth of champion-elect Wolfgang Reip by the season finale at the Nürburgring, although he again didn’t get to race after Harry Tincknell was spun into the pitwall.

“It’s amazing, I made such a big step between races,” Sanchez recalls. “Every race I learned a lot. Paul Ricard helped me with my race-craft because it was a six hour race, there were two pace cars in my stint so all the cars were compacted and Spa of course with racing at night. I’m sure if I keep racing my learning curve will never stop, it’s amazing how much you can learn from racing in the biggest GT championship in the world against so many competitive drivers.

“Qualifying at the Nurburgring was a very special moment. I did Q2 so it wasn’t with new tyres, in the same conditions as Wolfgang and was pole position in class, eighth overall behind Wolfie by less than a tenth. I was running behind him and trying to learn from him, so when he jumped out of the car and told me ‘mate you were really pushing me like hell’, that was really nice and gave me a lot of confidence for staying in the team this year.”

Sanchez’s season will get underway with the first round of the Blancpain Sprint Series at Misano on April 9-10th.