Mid-February, Loïc Duval announced he was leaving Honda after six years of collaboration to join Toyota in Super GT (Japanese touring cars, the Japanese DTM) and Formula Nippon (Japanese single-seater championship). Today, the French driver from Chartres appeared on stage at the Audi training center in Munich alongside his new teammates from the Peugeot and Oreca in an Audi R18.

Loïc Duval followed a path from karting and single seaters, winning the title in Formula Campus in 2002. The following year he became champion of France in Formula Renault before goint to Japan, like Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Romain Dumas, his new teammates at Audi. Loyal to Honda for six years, Loïc Duval took the title in Formula Nippon in 2009, then SuperGT the following year.

The French driver started with Oreca in endurance racing in a Courage-Judd in 2008, when he would see the checquered flag in his first 24 Hours of Le Mans. Away from Le Mans in 2009, Loic Duval came back in 2010, still with Oreca, but with the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. He beat the lap record with 3’19’’074 in the face of Peugeot Sport factory drivers; a performance that gets you noticed! However, he remained with Oreca in 2011 and won the 12 Hours of Sebring with the older generation Peugeot. A few months later, he finished fifth in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the company of Olivier Panis and Nicolas Lapierre, who will be his most serious opponents in 2012

Nicolas Lapierre stayed with Oreca who will race the new Toyota TS 030 HYBRID, while Loïc Duval defected to Audi. In Japan, in 2012 Loic Duval will race a Toyota with the Tom's team in SuperGT with Kazuki Nakajima, who is none other than team-mate Nicolas Lapierre in the Oreca-Toyota.

Loïc Duval will make his debut for Audi at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. This will be an opportunity to get acquainted with his two teammates Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, who won at Le Mans with Mike Rockenfeller in 2010.

Cécile Bonardel

Photo : MUNICH (BAVARIA, GERMANY), AUDI TRAINING CENTER. Loïc Duval, former Oreca driver, joins Audi.