Photo : - Strakka Racing

After a triumphant 2010 tour, punctuated by a class win at Le Mans (LM P2) and a tremendous feat in Hungary (1st overall), the Team Principal and Director of Strakka Racing Piers Phillips discusses the 2011 season. 2012 should be year of great challenges ...

Founded in 2007, the British team is prominent in European endurance racing. With an enviable partnership with Honda and a trio of drivers who are stable and efficient (Watts-Kane-Leventis), Piers Phillips answered some questions at the dawn of the 2011 season that will hopefully bear fruit.

How would you assess your first season with Honda Performance Development?
Piers Phillips: "The results speak for themselves. Ultimately we were disappointed we didn’t win the Le Mans Series LMP2 championship, but you wouldn’t swap the Le Mans win and the outright race victory at the Hungarian round for anything. To turn up at Paul Ricard and dominate pretty much from start to finish, first time out with a new car, was fantastic too."

What is your goal this year?
"It was also the long-term goal of the team to do at least two years in LMP2, purely and simply because it is a class that, as a team, we know we can win and it was important that we used LMP2 to build a strong foundation. As a development for the drivers, particularly Nick [Leventis], it’s a lower powered formula that teaches the drivers to use the chassis a lot more than in LMP1, so it was a very logical step. Of course LMP1 is very difficult when you’re racing against three Audis and three Peugeots and we’re certainly not in this sport to race for seventh position, but hopefully in 2011 that’s going to change and the equality of the regulations could see a lot more private LMP1 teams at the front. We’ll be looking at LMP1 closely in terms of what we might do as a team in 2012."

How has your prototype changed this winter?
"It’s the same car as last year, with various upgrades – performance and regulation upgrades, some mechanical, some aerodynamic. The main change for 2011 is, as per regulation, that we now have to use a production based engine. Honda has produced a twin-turbo V6 unit which will be in the car. That engine has been running on the dyno at HPD for 18 months and, since the end of last season, has already done four days in a car in America, with durability and reliability testing."

Are you in possession of the engine?
"We are due to receive our engine soon and we plan to do 4,500-5,000 miles of testing in February, equivalent to the Le Mans 24 hour race. It’s important from our side to stay with HPD for the continuity – it’s a fantastic organisation that we have a lot of faith in, hugely experienced in running turbo charged engines, last year was obviously a normally aspirated engine, but with many decades in IndyCar HPD is vastly experienced at running turbos."

What's next?

"2011 needs to be another year of establishing strong foundations regarding the team and how we operate, with the view that if we work hard enough and win the LMS title that we will have achieved everything there is to achieve in LMP2 – and then our eyes have to be on stepping up to the LMP1 class. That used to be a massive step, but because of the rule changes LMP1 is effectively what LMP2 was last year. For the drivers, the horsepower and the downforce will be similar to what they have experienced in 2010. It’s now a progression to LMP1 rather than a big step, and if we have a successful 2011, it’s a logical step."... "We would like to participate in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2012."

Julien Hergault

Photo: LE MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, June 12, 2010. An engineer by training, Piers Phillips worked in F1 on the Benetton-Ford (1994) and Jordan-Peugeot (1997).