The 2013 season of Joel Camathias in the European Le Mans Series ended with an excellent result: the Swiss driver, sharing the JMW Racing Ferrari f458 with Andrea Bertolini, finished second in the last race, held at the Circuit Paul Ricard, in Southern France. With this second podium of the year allows Joel to finish on a high a season that has seen him always among the top contenders but also targeted by bad luck.

At the Ricard, the yellow Ferrari of the British squad suffered a small problem with a shock absorber, but the problem didn’t cause any unforseen pit stop and didn’t hinder the final result. Camathias and Bertolini concluded the very closely-fought championship in sixth position.

The driver from Lugano will now focus on the two final rounds of the International GT Open, Monza (next weekend) and Barcelona.

Joël Camathias: “We have obtain what we had sought: to finish the season on a high and with a result that rewards everybody in the team after the bad fortune in previous races. Wee are happy with second and the podium, as here the Ferrari of Mowlem-Griffin, who claimed the title, seemed unbeatable, both in practice and in the race. We were always right behind them, but we couldn’t do much more. We were slightly slowed by a shock absorber that had lost pressure, causing the tire to deteriorate, which was evident especially in the final part of each stint. Still, we can’t really say that this had an impact on the final result. It has been an exciting season, closely-fought, where we demonstrated we had a competitive package, but couldn’t harvest all the results we deserved. We lacked luck in some race and this, in a championship of five rounds, takes a toll, but we have built an excellent basis for the future.”