The Inter Europol Competition team is back for their second season in the ELMS with their Ligier LMP3. This year the number 13 car will by piloted by Kuba Śmiechowski and Martin Hippe. Last year the team finished 10th overall in the team championship and Śmiechowski 12th overall in the driver championship.
This year Śmiechowski has a new teammate; Martin Hippe. Hippe has many years of racing in a variety of single seaters behind him and when not racing is active as a racing and data engineer, as well as being a drivers’ coach. This, of course, next to his daily job.
The two-day test two weeks ago at Monza went relatively well for the Inter Europol Competition team. Last year the team lacked some speed on the straight but that problem was hopefully solved at Monza. Different kinds of set up were tried and in general a lot of knowledge was gained and put to good use. For Hippe it was good to get a lot of time in the car and get comfortable with it.
Jakub Śmiechowski: “At Monza I think we made a huge step forward in means of understanding the car. We had some bad luck last year when we had to retire just five minutes before the end of the race, so I’m desperate to get a good result and a strong finish this year in the first ELMS race of the season.”
Martin Hippe: “At Monza I was very happy to get a lot of time in the car and learn the track. Now I am looking forward to Silverstone which is another new track for me to drive. For sure I know it from our trackwalk last year when I was working with Kuba as data engineer. I really like the fast corners like Maggots and Becketts so I will enjoy myself.”
