The new school year has only just kicked off… and already the 2013 edition of the European Le Mans Series is entering its final phase. In the space of a fortnight the competitors of this European Endurance Championship, bringing together “Prototypes” and Grand Touring Cars will be going head to head in Hungary and then France. The ProSpeed Competition team have prepared the first upcoming meeting in fine detail. Already at the end of August Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo had travelled on down to Budapest to become acquainted with the twisting Hungaroring circuit, located some twenty kilometres from the capital. The French drivers clocked up the laps with a view to firstly sharpening their knowledge of the track, and then fine tuning the set-up of their Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #75. The level of performance of the various teams competing in this ELMS championship never ceases to amaze one and all. In the LM GTE category ProSpeed Competition and its rivals fiercely battle it out for a podium place right down to a mere second. Who will find a spot on the podium this coming weekend?
With twenty-two points, ProSpeed Competition is presently ranked in seventh place in the “Teams” classification, which is dominated by two British teams and their Italian machinery. Still today the blank score registered in Italy weighs heavily on the Belgian team’s classification. However on Saturday evening everything could change following this Hungarian meeting…
Rudi Penders (ProSpeed Competition Team Principal) : “The members of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, organisers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the ELMS championship, take a real interest in the life of the teams. The regulations are constantly evolving, with as aim to maximise the technical and sporting equity. And once again this is the case on the eve of the Hungarian meeting. To summarise let us say that – based on the drivers’ international “rankings” – the driving time allocated to each one of them has been reviewed. The aim here is to perfect the sporting equity between teams with three drivers and those comprised out of two drivers. Time spent at the wheel is an important element in a team’s strategy, especially when the drivers have a different level of performance. And we are not talking about the apportioning of the tasks according to the experience: who takes the start? Who should be out on the track should the weather conditions deteriorate?”
François Perrodo (Driver – Porsche 911 GT3 RSR #75 – LMGTE) : “The preparation we have adopted, with the team, on the eve of these 3 Hours of the Red Bull Ring has allowed us to move up a step. Fully aware of this contribution we came upon the idea of becoming better acquainted with the Hungaroring by taking advantage of a track test day. And we didn’t regret doing this. The 14 bends and curves over 4,381 kilometres of track are truly quite specific. Sinuous, even slow, the layout does not favour overtaking. We’ll need to put in good qualifying times and remain highly prudent in the traffic. But it’s not because the cars might not be able to pass each other that we, drivers and members of the team, should not be able to… surpass ourselves!”
Source : ProSpeed Competition