Alessandro Latif brought the curtain down on an impressive maiden season in GT and sportscar racing last weekend (1-2 Nov).
But Latif unluckily missed out on contesting the final two races when co-driver Marc Basseng crashed their Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra in qualifying at Baku in Azerbaijan.
Thankfully the Anglo-German pairing were already assured of the Pro-Am Trophy title after scoring an impressive eight wins from 10 race class starts marking a promising season for the rising British driver.
In addition to contesting the Blancpain Series, Alessandro competed in three prestigious races in North America – making his debut in a 24 hour race – and going on to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours event for the first time.
The 18-year-old Londoner contested races in France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Portugal and Belgium as well as Britain – competing in 16-races that included two 24 hour races and one 12 hour race.
“This year has been a huge learning curve and like any season, it has had a fair share of highs and lows,” reflected Latif. “Daytona was a good start to the year for me in January with a solid fifth place finish. The Sebring race in March was frustrating due to a number of punctures. My maiden Blancpain season began in April and it has been a tough year at times. But Marc and I have managed to score some solid points in the overall rankings while we won the Pro-Am category which is a high point for me.
“The low of the year was Le Mans after only being able to complete eight laps during the race week and not being able to get in to the car at all for the race itself when my co-driver damaged the car beyond repair early in the race but sometimes it goes like that like last weekend. Overall it’s been a good learning exercise that I can take forward into 2015.”
Concerning last weekend Latif, who will spend the coming weeks negotiating drives for 2015, commented: “Marc was pushing hard in qualifying and was on course for a top-10 grid start but ‘lost’ the Audi at the exit of the second chicane. Unfortunately the damage could not be repaired overnight so we had to withdraw. It was an unfortunate way to close out the Blancpain season but that’s motor racing sometimes.”