At the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, one team clearly outperformed the competition: Extreme Speed Motorsports. The team, founded in 2010, is popular among endurance fans, and is really on peak form right now. 53-year-old Ed Brown, co-founder (with driver Scott Sharp), tells us about his fantastic start to the season.

Do you expect such a start to the season? You are obviously always aiming for victory but two consecutive triumphs, in two of the most prestigious endurance races in the United States - what an achievement!
Yeah! 2015 was a really, really rough year for us. We were handcuffed with the package that we had, also three chassis for the first few months of the year (Honda ARX-03b, HPD ARX-04b coupe, and Ligier JS P2). Our team really struggled but they worked their butts off. We knew that by teaming up with Oak Racing that things would get better, but we never knew it was going to start like this! We were all pretty shocked at how good the HPD engine was! Power is one thing but it was really about engine management, that’s so much better now.

Was it satisfying to be in front of the DP cars (cars from the Grand-Am series with which the American Le Mans Series merged in 2014)? Does it mean that the Le Mans spirit and the Le Mans style cars can work in the States too?
The first year of the United SportsCar Championship (in 2014), was a really hard year. We had the first victory at Laguna Seca for a P2 car, then Oak Racing got a win at the end of the year. But after that, the DPs remained unbeaten. Things are looking better for us this year and it’s really satisfying. We realised that in the US our fans really wanted to see the P2 cars win! They got tired of the DP dominance over there. The DPs have had a good run over the last couple of years and they’ll have a really good season again, especially on some of the street courses where it’s really hard for the P2 to perform. But yeah, it was really satisfying to beat them there on their home turf.

The end of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with Pipo Dernai taking the chequered flag, was magnificent. How stressful was it, watching it from the pits?
What happened in those last ten minutes was just amazing. Every team had put their best drivers in the cars but it the end it worked out for us! It showed you how good the car could be after 12 hours in the wet (Ed. the race was delayed by rain this year).

Do you think that those two races are the best preparation for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2016?
I think in any 24-hour race, there’s got to be some luck involved. As a team, we’re more prepared to do well at Le Mans, but it’s a tough race, with 22 cars in LM P2, so to win you’re going to have to have some luck. We’ve got the Oak Racing cars and a great strategy, which puts us in a position to win.
 

 

🇬🇧 Wonderfull sunset over the @circuitpaulricard for the start of the #Prologue2016 night session #LeMans24 #SeeUinJune 🇫🇷 Début de la séance de nuit du #Prologue2016 avec un magnifique coucher de soleil #LeMans24 #24LM #RDVenJuin

Une photo publiée par 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) le 25 Mars 2016 à 11h35 PDT

Your career follows a certain kind of logic, from GT3, then GT, and now P2. Was important for you to build up your driving and your experience?
I sometimes thought they were trying to move me up too quickly – I didn’t stay in GT3 all that long. I’ve always raced against all pros, so there was always more pressure for me, more of a challenge, but I never really cared because it was my choice. This is my second year in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and I’ll be way more comfortable because I know the tracks, all except for Mexico City. But I learn every day, and I’ll keep on learning tomorrow. This car is just incredible, it does crazy things.

So you’re already thinking about Le Mans?
Absolutely. To be honest, I’m kind of thinking about Silverstone, the first race and that’s a really difficult track, then you go to Spa-Francorchamps and finally Le Mans. I still run a lot of sims for Le Mans, just to keep on refreshing myself and think about where to put the car. But yeah, I’m looking forward to Le Mans and the season. I always said I was going to retire if I won Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans. I’ve got a chance this year (laughs).

Geoffroy Barre  |  Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

Photo: Still on a high after their win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Ed Brown launched his team's World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign at the Prologue in Le Castellet.