Photo : Christian VIGNON - Christian VIGNON

 

With his experience level, Franck Mailleux starts a new collaboration this year with Michel Frey's Race Performance team. Aware of the exceptionally competitive level of the LM P2 class, Mailleux however does not forget his podium ambitions, along with Jon Lancaster and his Team Principal: "There are a lot of different cars, many teams, who know the LM P2 class well and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It's clear that with certain impressive driver trios, the class should be followed very closely as the battle will be intense and indecisive. On paper, it is impossible to say which car has more chance to win than another."

The Test Day nonetheless indicated to the present competitors how tight the hierarchy is: "The Ligier JS P2 cars should be fast, especially in the beginning of the race, but they are relatively new cars and are perhaps still fragile. The reliability of our package, which is totally proven, could help us make the difference. No matter what, we will do our work to drive as consistently as possible and avoid traps and errors. If all this data comes together during the 24 Hours, the result should be there."

A result not far from the top step on the podium? "We can talk of victory of course but we are not the best equipped LM P2 team particularly in terms of budget. In the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), we were able to show of what we were capable, but the 24-hour races are so different that anything can happen. Objectively and reasonably, we envision a Top 5 finish."

By his record and his knowledge of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mailleux acts as captain of the Swiss outfit: "I try to save time for the team, escpecially in the adjusting phases of the car, by making decisions about which guidelines to follow so that they are suitable for the whole driver line-up. Jon is going to participate in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, so I will guide him a little relative to everything to do with the event, the circuit, the traffic. It will be very fast, that's certain, for me to focus him a little so he uses his speed at the right moments and in the right places."

Pierre-Yves Riom / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 1 2014, TEST DAY. The No. 34 Oreca 03R-Judd of the Race Performance team.