How did the deal with Boutsen Ginion come about?
“It came together last week with the team. I was pretty convinced that they were a good squad and the McLaren was a car with a lot of potential and prospects for me. It is also good to be at the last race because generally people remember the last rather than the first race of a season. And of course it is on a track I know quite well too, so it was a very nice deal for me to be with Boutsen Ginion and have the opportunity to show my potential and to look forward to perhaps something more permanent for me in 2013.”
What have you been up to this year and what do you know about the Blancpain Endurance Series?
“Well, recently I developed the new World Series by Renault 3.5litre car with Renault Sport Technologies and with Dallara. This year I have done about 4,000kms in the new car which is even faster than a GP2 car after the development, which I was in charge of from a driver’s point of view.
“I know some of the people and drivers in the Blancpain Endurance Series. I know that the level of the championship is very strong, the drivers, teams and organisation especially. Personally my expectations for next weekend are not to turn up and win everything. Not at all. It seems that anyone can win and you have to be right at the top of your game to get results in this series. The balance of performance is interesting to me and we have to wait and see what we will run in Navarra for the Boutsen Ginion McLaren.”
What can you tell us about Zoël Amburg?
“Zoël is a young Swiss driver who has been doing a very good job in this year’s World Series by Renault 3.5 litre championship driving for the Pons Team. I work with Zoël very closely and he works with my driver training company, so it will be pretty cool to be racing alongside him next weekend. He has a lot of potential to have a great career in motorsport but is still very young; he was 20 just the other week.”
You had some laps in the Boutsen Ginion McLaren recently, how did it feel?
“It was great. For the first time I drove a GT car and I really enjoyed it. I thought that it would take more time to adapt to it but I found it very comfortable from the initial first laps. It actually surprised me a little because the power of the engine is very impressive and the stability of the chassis was very noticeable from an early stage in the test. Normally of course with driving so many single-seaters in my career you would notice that the weight was much greater in the GT but it was not so much of a problem for me. Of course you need to get used to the longer braking distance, the traction control, the ABS and so on but once this is mastered it becomes a very enjoyable driving experience.”
What about getting used to racing with 45+ other cars in BES rather than just a grid of 20+ in single seater series?
“This for sure will be a new challenge for me and certainly it is not something that I am used to. I am sure that in endurance races you need to be aware of many things and not just the outright speed of the car. You have to work on the consistency, looking after the car, the driver changes, when and where to overtake and I am sure lots of other key disciplines.”
Is GT or sports cars in general a new career direction for you now?
“It’s difficult to say for sure right now because I love driving single-seaters and it is what I have been doing for most of my professional life. But there gets to a point in your career where you have driven in F3, F2, GP2, World Series, and tested F1 and there is nowhere left to go, unless you go to the USA. So, you know that you have to look at other options and really I am just looking to open my mind to GT’s and it is certainly seems a very good option for me in the future.”
Who is Andy Soucek?
Andy Soucek (27) is a Spanish driver (Spanish mother, Austrian father) who has enjoyed great success in many single seater series during the last decade. Starting in Spanish F3 in 2002 he quickly graduated up the formula ladder taking the Spanish F3 title in 2005. He raced in GP2 during from 2006 to 2008 with Super Nova and David Price Racing scoring three podium positions at Hungaroring, Spa and Valencia.
In 2009 he became the first FIA Formula Two champion winning an incredible 15 races from 30 rounds. In 2010 Andy raced in the Superleague Formula series representing Corinthians and Atletico Madrid. The following year he was the official third driver for Virgin Racing in Formula One.
In 2011 he co-founded Integrated Racing Performance, a racing driver consultancy company.
Source : Blancpain Endurance Series