Mikkel Mac - Stepping into the limelight

Having beaten several more fancied outfits to the European Le Mans Series GTE title at the first time of asking last year, people are beginning to sit up and take notice of Denmark’s Mikkel Mac. 

Hailing from a nation rich in endurance racing pedigree (Tom Kristensen and Jan Magnussen anyone?) Mac arrived in the ELMS in 2014 as something of an unknown, with only two seasons of single-seaters and a year in the Maserati Trofeo World Series under his belt. 

But it didn’t take long for the 23 year-old to find his feet in GTs. With four-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner Magnussen coming on board to lead the team, Mac scored his first GTC class win at Imola and went on to finish second in points, outpacing Magnussen at the Estoril season finale. 

Mac (centre) took a first ELMS win at Imola in 2014 (ELMS Media).

GTE beckoned for 2015, and despite a disastrous opening round at Silverstone, the Formula Racing crew prevailed against the might of AF Corse and Marc VDS to earn themselves an automatic entry for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours. As fairy stories go, they don't get much better than this. 

“The 2015 season was a big step up to go to from the GTC to the GTE car. I didn’t think that it would be as big as it was – when we got to Silverstone, it was a nightmare for all of us because we thought we would be in the top three from the beginning,” Mac says.

“That weekend showed us that we need to work very hard as drivers and as a team to get the best out of the car, because we were used to the GTC - now I can see how easy that was to drive! From Silverstone we started testing and it was very good for me to work alongside AF Corse to understand how the car was working and what I need to do to go fast. It went very well for all of us last season, we couldn’t do much more than we did.” 

Paired with Andrea Rizzoli (Silver) and regular co-driver Johnny Laursen (Bronze), the Gold-rated Mac blossomed in the role of team-leader. Focusing primarily on a consistent race setup rather than maximising single lap pace meant he was rarely found at the top of the timesheets – Mac didn’t set a single pole position or fastest lap in 2015 – but it was an approach which paid off handsomely, as all three drivers could manage a consistent pace. 

Wins at the Red Bull Ring and Paul Ricard were just reward for this maturity, and afforded Formula Racing a handy points buffer. In the end, a no-risk run to fifth in the torrential downpour at Estoril was more than enough to seal the championship and truly announce himself to the world as a prospect to be taken seriously. 

Mac anchored Formula Racing to victory at Paul Ricard, one of two wins
in the team's 2015 ELMS title campaign (Nick Dungan/ Adrenal). 

“When I got the Gold driver ranking last year, although I was the team leader, I wanted to work to win the championship and not to show how fast I was,” Mac said. “As a Bronze or a Silver driver fighting for position, it’s very easy to make a mistake if the car is setup for qualifying as the Gold driver would prefer it, so I always preferred to make the setup easy to drive for all three drivers. Even if I’m maybe going one or two tenths slower, it means Andrea or Johnny could go faster.” 

Although he did not return for a second season, some credit must be attributed to Magnussen, who played an integral role in setting the team on its way and helping Mac to realise the extent of his potential. 

“It was great to have Jan Magnussen as a team-mate in the GTC car to show me how to work with a good team, how to talk with the engineers and what to do on strategy,” Mac agrees. “Jan has driven nearly everything from F1 to NASCAR and has so much experience over so many years, so I was just watching him and learning all I could. Actually I don’t think I realised how fast I was myself until someone told me that I was on his pace. 

“It was a massive confidence boost, you begin to realise that someday you might have a chance to be a professional driver and that was a big motivation for me – it makes you want to work so much harder because it’s just in front of you.” 

Indeed, whilst many would prefer the underdog tag, which simultaneously lowers expectations and heightens the reaction to any subsequent success, Mac says he welcomes the extra attention in the hope that it will one day lead to his joining the likes of Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander, Mika Salo and Andrea Bertolini (on the books at Maranello since 2007, 1999 and 1991 respectively) as a factory Ferrari driver. 

“I hope that many other big teams are watching – I would like to drive for Ferrari one day as a factory driver, that’s my big goal right now,” he says. “For sure I’m looking up to guys like Bertolini and Bruni – they are something special. 

Mac aspires one day to join the ranks of the Ferrari factory drivers (Jeff Carter).

"Ferrari is like a family. They are so much more than just a racing team, so I hope they will see what I’m doing, but as a driver I’m not thinking ‘I need to do a good job now because maybe someone is watching.’ I’m just working on myself. Every time I’m on the track I want to learn new things, I want to be better off the track and on the track.” 

The journey starts again at Silverstone in May, with Mac’s former karting adversary Christina Nielsen joining Laursen - one of the quickest bronze drivers in the ELMS last season - to form an all-Danish line-up after her standout season in IMSA last year. But the real fun commences in July, when Mac and Formula Racing will tackle Le Mans for the first time. 

“Actually last year we were on the reserve list and we did the official Test Day – just to be at the test was unbelievable,” says Mac with reverence. “Since I got my first go-kart, I have always been the boy who was driving all the practice sessions, just to come in, get some fuel and go out again, where some of the other drivers were playing football with each other. 

“We have Tom Kristensen and Jan Magnussen here in Denmark, so my dad was always saying it is not only Formula One, there was also Le Mans, and since I was young I have always focused on improving the stability and consistency in my driving. It’s a very big goal to drive Le Mans so thanks to Formula Racing for giving me the opportunity - it’s going to be the biggest dream of my life.”

Vicious Rumour Racing to debut Ferrari 488 GT3 in Australian GP support

Vicious Rumour Racing will give a competition debut to the Ferrari 488 GT3 on the Australian Grand Prix weekend at Melbourne’s Albert Park, Racing.GT have learned.

The Melbourne-based team won’t take delivery of their new mount in time for the Australian GT championship season opener in Adelaide and have instead ear-marked the F1-supporting second round for the car’s first outing.

Vicious Rumour will debut the 488 in Melbourne in March (Benny Simonsen/ Facebook).

Team regulars Benny Simonsen and ex-Formula one driver Andrea Montermini have been entrusted with the driving duties, reprising the line-up that took second in the Am class of last year’s Bathurst 12 Hour to outright winner Nissan.

“It’s a pretty good gig, I’m very excited for it,” said Simonsen. “It’s going to be the first race for the 488 and it’s cool to be on the F1 package, it’s a big event out there.

“I haven’t actually driven it yet, my first time will be at the Grand Prix, but Andrea has been shaking it down in Italy. The car is on its way now, but it’s going to be so close to Clipsal and as a Melbourne-based team, the Grand Prix is a really big deal for them, so it makes sense to wait; if you end up having some damage at Clipsal it’s probably game over for the Grand Prix.”

Car owner Tony Defelice was part of the driver line-up at Bathurst and will return later in the season, but will take a back seat for the car’s debut, with only a 20 minute practice session to get both drivers acquainted before qualifying.

“Tony is going to do some more races himself, but for the Grand Prix he’d like the car to win on its debut so he’s given us that task. We’ll have a crack at it and see if we can get to the top step,” Simonsen continued.

“They are trying to organise a test the week before, but it all depends on when it gets to Melbourne. There’s only a twenty minute practice before we do qualifying and that’s for two drivers, we have to do ten minutes each, but I’m looking forward to it.

“I’ve not been to the track, but normally when I go to Bathurst I’ll stay in Melbourne because the team is based there, so I’ve been there quite a few times now. From the sim I really like the circuit, it has a good fast flow to it which is the type of track I like.”

Simonsen is under no illusions of the challenge facing Vicious Rumour, with the quality of opposition in Australian GT at an all-time high. 28 cars will take on the season opener at Adelaide, with even more to come for the Grand Prix weekend.

“Australian GT is building more and more; if you look at the entry list for Clipsal it’s incredible and I think the Grand Prix is going to be even tougher, because it’s the one everyone wants to do out there,” he added. “I know the grid has been sold up for quite a while, there’s the BMW, McLaren, Mercedes, Audis, everyone wants to win it, and it’s going to be very competitive. But we’re going there to win, I think we’ve got a good chance and we can do it.”

Van Lagen hoping for more opportunities with Lechner

Jaap Van Lagen hopes that his strong showing at the Dubai 24 Hours will help earn him further opportunities with Walter Lechner’s eponymous team.

The 39-year-old impressed by setting the fastest lap in the 991 class and was integral to the no. 40 Lechner Racing Middle East’s five-lap victory over the sister no. 81 car, placing 11th overall. Speaking to Racing.GT, Van Lagen said he would relish the opportunity to further his partnership with the 2015 Porsche Supercup teams champion, which also organises the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

van Lagen on the grid before the Dubai 24, where he was entered
in both the no. 40 and no. 80 cars. (Jaap van Lagen/ Twitter).

“Last year Sven Muller could not do two events so I did some races with Lechner at Hockenheim and Lausitzring in Carrera Cup Germany. He gave me the chance for Dubai and I’d really like to stay with him because he’s had so much success in the Porsche Cup – if he wants to go 24 hour racing with a GT car, he will do it really well,” van Lagen said.

“He has some really good mechanics, good engineers, he’s a real winner. If he does something, he does it properly, and I’m exactly the same.”

The versatile Dutchman raced a part-season with Lada in the World Touring Car Championship and took an excellent fifth at the Nürburgring 24 Hours last year, but still holds ambitions of a full season campaign in Supercup. In his last regular campaign in 2010, van Lagen finished fourth on countback to Norbert Siedler, despite missing two races, and won three times in the equally competitive Carrera Cup Germany between 2011 and 2013.

“I’d really like to do a full season with Lechner or Alex Fach; I did one full season in 2008 with Kadach and did the full season in Carrera Cup three times, but never with proper testing or anything like that because the budget was not enough. Without that you can’t win championships,” he said.

However, with budget constraints a continual hurdle, van Lagen recognises that further one-off appearances, one of which resulting in a high-profile Supercup victory at Monaco with Fach Auto Tech, may provide his best route to success.

“Monaco was unbelievable – Alex Fach called me on the Tuesday and asked me if I was available, so I of course said yes,” he continued. “I’d never driven with him before, but we’d talked many times together, and he was champion in Supercup with Earl Bamber the year before. I booked a flight on the Tuesday evening, I arrived on the Wednesday, on Thursday I was second in free practice, Friday I qualified P1 and Sunday I won the race!

“As a guest driver in a new team you cannot say ‘this setup is not correct, I want to drive this way’ because then you’re out, that’s not the way to work. I’ve driven for five or six different teams with different setups, different engineers, different mechanics and it’s hard to be in the front immediately, but at Monaco after five or six laps of practice I came in and said to Alex ‘the car is really good, tomorrow in qualifying, I’m sure I will be in the top three.’ In the end I was P1 and at Monaco if you don’t make any mistakes you can win!”

This article also appeared on Racing.GT

Griffin: ELMS “the most competitive championship I’ve ever done”

Matt Griffin has labelled the European Le Mans Series the most competitive championship he’s ever competed in, following the ACO’s unveiling of a record 44-car entry for 2016.

Four different teams won the five races in the GTE class in 2015, and had it not been for Tristan Gommendy spinning in front of the GTE leaders on the final lap in Austria – which allowed Mikkel Mac to capitalise and pass a delayed Griffin – it would have been five from five.

After a winless 2015 in the ELMS, Griffin is hoping to get 
back to winning ways in 2016 (Nick Dungan/ Adrenal). 

Nine cars will contest the GTE class in 2016, including five Ferraris, two Porsches and two Aston Martins. Griffin will once again share an AF Corse-entered Ferrari 458 Italia with long-time co-driver Duncan Cameron.

“I’ve raced every single GT championship in the world from Asia to America and the World Endurance Championship and to be honest last year was the most competitive championship I’ve ever done in my life,” says Griffin, who won the GTE championship for RAM Racing with Johnny Mowlem in 2013. “At any race, theoretically any car can win its class and I’ve never been in a championship where that’s been the case.

“There’s usually two or three guys who end up fighting for the win, but in the ELMS the only time we had a double winner was the Formula Racing car, which won in Austria – narrowly beating me – and then was very lucky with the Safety Cars in Paul Ricard. If that didn’t happen, you would have had five different winners in five races, which is testament to the championship really.”

The 4 Hours of Imola was a perfect showcase for the series, with Alessandro Pier Guidi prevailing for AT Racing after an enthralling five-way battle for the lead after the final stops. The Italian’s winning margin over the fifth placed Aaron Scott was just 20 seconds.

Griffin won the ELMS in 2013 with Johnny Mowlem (Matt Griffin/ Facebook).

After taking the fight to the wire two years in a row, Griffin is hungry to add a second title in 2016, but with the quality of opposition unrelenting, knows he will be in for another tough battle.

“From our side, we go into the championship with AF Corse with a view to winning the championship,” he continued. “I won it in 2013, I finished second in 2014 and finished third last year, so I don’t like the direction I’m going! The aim is to win the championship next year, but not being outside the top three since 2012 which was the first year I did it shows that I’ve got a good handle on the championship.

“The 458 is a very strong car and has been really consistent over the years it’s been racing, it’s a good all-round package and I think Ferrari promote the best customer support for non-factory teams, which explains why a lot of the entries are Ferraris. But saying that, this year in the ELMS we’ll have an Aston Martin and a couple more Porsches. Having a few different makes is good because different cars have their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s going to be tough as always.”

Abra: Huracan “a joy to drive”

Richard Abra has described MP Motorsport’s new Lamborghini Huracan as “a joy to drive” ahead of the team’s return to the Blancpain Endurance Cup in 2016 with Barwell Motorsport.

The Huracan has been an overwhelming commercial success after winning on its Blancpain debut at Monza, with six cars entering the Daytona 24 Hours and multiple customer programmes expected across Europe, including a two-car attack on the British GT championship by Mark Lemmer’s Barwell outfit.

Abra will share the Lambo with Osborne and Poole (Barwell Motorsport).

After a year away, Abra will once again team up with old sparring partner Joe Osborne and car owner Mark Poole.

“Literally from the word go, the biggest thing that Joe and I thought was how easy it was to drive,” says 27-year-old Abra. “We tested it in Vallelunga last year to get a feel for it and instantly fell in love with everything about it, the controls, the brakes, the seating position; it’s a joy to drive, which only bodes well for the Amateur drivers.

“Lamborghini have taken it in-house this year and invested a lot of time and money in the project. They really seem to have done this properly, they’ve had a year with Grasser running the car, so they’ve already done a lot of racing with it and they’ve had a lot of great drivers in the car who’ve had nothing but good things to say about it. Overall it’s a great package – the running costs and service intervals are very reasonable as well.”

Although Poole has yet to test the Huracan, Abra is confident that with Barwell running the cars, they will be firmly in the mix for Pro-Am honours come the start of the season.

“We raced with Barwell before back in 2013, and the same then applies now – Barwell have a great history of running GT3 cars at the highest level and always being very successful,” Abra says. 

“There’s a lot to be said for that in terms of who you pick to run the cars, and there’s not many teams that I would feel comfortable with handing over a new project like this to run at the standard we’re looking for.”

Abra also said that MP Motorsport are exploring following British teams RAM and Optimum into the 24H Series for some of the longer events, with the Paul Ricard and Barcelona 24 Hour races among those under consideration. 

Five things we learned at Bathurst

One week after an enthralling Daytona 24, the Bathurst 12 Hour provided another festival of GT3 action. Here’s what we learned.

1. Leinders makes a winning start 

Almost unnoticed amid the clamour over McLaren’s first victory in a major enduro since the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours was the presence of one Bas Leinders behind the scenes. Shortly after leading Marc VDS to their first victory in the Spa 24 Hours last July, Leinders parted ways with the team amid a “streamlining” process between the management structures of their motorcycle and GT operations. Just a few months later, the GT team folded for good. 

Leinders – a very good driver in his day don’t forget – has landed on his feet as McLaren GT’s Sporting Manager, but surely even he couldn’t have hoped for a better start to his new role. Expect to see much more of the Belgian this year, with McLaren diversifying their customer programmes with the 650S across the globe.

Great driving of this lot @Bathurst12hour, great victory @TeknoAutosports and @McLaren_GT, amazing team! #awesome pic.twitter.com/s0YPYw5Anf

— Bas Leinders (@BasLeinders) February 7, 2016

2. Better together 

“Better together” was the campaign slogan during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, but it could be equally fitting for the Bathurst 12 Hour and the V8 Supercar series. After V8 Supercars scheduled an obligatory two-day test on the same weekend as the race to prevent its star drivers taking part last year, James Warburton and V8 Supercars acquired the rights to promote the event, which hit new heights in 2016. 

van Gisbergen (left) was an integral part of the winning crew (McLaren GT).

A record 37,079 people came to the mountain to watch domestic stars Van Gisbergen, Will Davison, Garth Tander, Rick Kelly and David Reynolds take on the stars of international GT3 racing. Reynolds enjoyed his experience, but don’t expect him to take on the Nordschleife anytime soon.  "I play it loads on Playstation, but I forget it all the time, it's too long!” 

3. Audi not at the races 

After wins at the Nurburgring, Sepang, Dubai and Daytona– not to mention a lockout of second and third at Spa – Bathurst was the first time that the Audi R8 LMS wasn’t at the races. Although Rene Rast managed to qualify second in the Jamec Pem no. 75, the Audi’s advantage over a single-lap at the top of the mountain would count for nothing in race-trim. The reason for that was simple – a dire lack of straightline speed ensuring they were invariably too far back to attempt an overtake into the Chase or Hell Corner, the circuit’s two major passing zones.  

Rast was quick over the top of the mountain,
but powerless to fight on the straights (Audi Sport).

After spending an entire stint unable to pass the leaders to get back on the lead lap, last year’s polesitter Laurens Vanthoor shared his frustrations over Twitter. “It's time to open my mouth. I never talk about BoP but this is ridiculous!” said the Belgian. “I don't want to have the quickest but a car to fight! Being a second quicker on the mountain but missing 10kmh on the straights is not correct. We can't fight and race other cars!!”

The Audis were also vulnerable to being overtaken at restarts on the run up to Griffins Bend, with Chiyo using the Nissan’s extra grunt to pass Vanthoor with two wheels on the grass late on. It only served to reinforce the impression that the Audis had arrived at a gun fight armed with a water pistol.

4. Cindric comes of age

At 17 years old, Austin Cindric was the proverbial boy amongst men at Mount Panorama, but on his first time in a Pro car alongside Mercedes heavyweights Bernd Schneider and Maro Engel, he looked anything but out of place. Even with a quietly impressive performance under his belt last year, Cindric remained something of an unknown quantity, but the American stood up to scrutiny here and kept the car on the lead lap despite progressively worsening handling, which was attributed to a broken rear diffuser.

Has been a true pleasure sharing the car with @AustinCindric & Bernd! Both did an awesome job. Racing can be so cruel. Onto the next #B12hr

— Maro Engel (@MaroEngel) February 7, 2016

Although his race would end in the wall at Griffins Bend, Cindric was absolved of any blame when the car was recovered with a flat left front. Engel was certainly impressed, and he wasn’t the only one. Cindric will drive a K-PAX Racing McLaren in the Pirelli World Challenge in 2016, and on this evidence will certainly be one to watch.

5. It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Mika Salo wasn’t mincing his words after tangling with Nick Percat’s Lamborghini on lap one. “I’m so pissed off with this idiot,” said the Finn, a winner at the mountain in 2014, who would later retire the Maranello Motorsport Ferrari with terminal suspension damage as a legacy of the accident.

Mika Salo goes bang! — Aaron Noonan (@aaronnoonan) February 6, 2016

Percat was also eliminated on the spot, but fought his corner on Twitter. “Myself and Salo went up mountain straight together. He may not have seen me and turned in like I wasn't there,” said the V8 Supercar driver, who won the Bathurst 1000 as a rookie in 2011. “I expected to run 2 by 2 with Salo like everyone in front of us seemed to do. He must have had other ideas.” Whoever was to blame, both ought to have known better.

Tekno McLaren triumphs in Bathurst 12 Hour

A charging Katsumasa Chiyo could not prevent Shane van Gisbergen, Alvaro Parente and Jonathon Webb from taking victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour for Tekno Autosport.

In a race where McLaren largely had the edge over the rest of the field, with van Gisbergen setting a new lap record – a 2:01.567 – on Lap 23, it always looked like it would take something truly special to beat the polesitting 650S, but defending winner Chiyo gave it his very best shot as Nissan fell short of a remarkable double on the mountain by just 1.2 seconds.

The 59 McLaren was the car to beat all day (McLaren GT).

Having made a clean start, van Gisbergen was only briefly headed by Warren Luff’s Objective Racing McLaren after a sluggish first stop, before Luff made a rare error and crashed at the Dipper at the end of the second hour. 

Although the car briefly shut off when McLaren factory driver Parente took over, costing the Portuguese around 45 seconds – and the lead – while he performed a system reset, Tekno remained firmly in contention all day, their only further drama a pitlane speeding penalty for van Gisbergen which fortunately didn’t cost them a lap. After pitting under the race's 13th and final Safety Car to top off with fuel, Van Gisbergen would  require less fuel at his final stop, allowing the Kiwi to jump ahead of the Nissan into a lead he would never lose.

The GT-R ran strongly throughout after a disappointing qualifying, but even with Chiyo at maximum attack in the closing stages, the Japanese could only get within nine tenths of van Gisbergen’s best time at sunrise. V8 Supercar racer Rick Kelly had stormed through the pack from 13^th to second during his opening double-stint before handing over to Florian Strauss, the German doing his prospects of a greater role within the Nismo setup in 2016 no harm at all by maintaining pace with the two factory Bentleys during a prolonged green-flag spell.

By the end of the race, there would only be one Bentley still in the running however, with the unfortunate David Russell suffering two punctures in as many laps after hitting a slow-moving Porsche. Despite a puncture of their own, Steven Kane, Guy Smith and Matt Bell made up for the disappointment of 2015 to finish third, ahead of the Phoenix Racing Audi of Laurens Vanthoor, Markus Winkelhock and Alex Davison, which spent much of the race stuck just off the lead lap with a chronic lack of straight line speed.

Phoenix soldiered to a fourth place finish on a day when an
 Audi R8 LMS was not the car to have (Audi Sport).

The best of the Erebus Mercedes finished fifth in the hands of Thomas Jaeger, Nico Bastian and David Reynolds, who had the fright of his life when Fabian Hamprecht’s PROsport Porsche Cayman spun in front of him at McPhillamy.

Despite having no rear diffuser, Maro Engel had fought his way past the battling Smith and Webb to get the sister Mercedes back on the lead lap with four hours remaining, but his hard work was undone when impressive 17-year-old Austin Cindric suffered a tyre failure and crashed at Griffins Bend, one of many drivers to suffer a sudden delamination at speed.

Marco Mapelli was visibly shaken after the right-rear tyre on his Jamec Pem Audi exploded at full throttle on the Conrod Straight in the second hour. Although he miraculously didn’t hit anything, the tyre had caused too much damage to continue, scuppering Christopher Mies’ hopes of a record-breaking third win on the mountain.

After a stellar effort by Craig Baird, the Darrell Lea McLaren 650S had been set for honours in the Am class until owner Tony Quinn tangled with Roger Lago’s JBS Racing Lamborghini and beached on the kerb at Turn Two. Their demise promoted the no. 5 GT Motorsport Audi of Greg Taylor, Barton Mawer and Nathan Antunes, which finished sixth overall, to the class victory, with Lago, Luke Youlden and Steve Owen taking second.

Le Mans winner Earl Bamber and rising star Scott McLaughlin anchored the Grove Motorsport Porsche 997 to victory in Class B alongside owner Steven Grove.