This weekend kicks off the European Le Mans Series, the prestigious continental series for Sports and GT cars, which constitutes the core programme of this season for Joel Camathias. The season-opener takes place at Silverstone, the first of the six rounds, all on legendary tracks. The Swiss driver will be at the wheel of a Porsche 911 RSR entered by Proton Competition, to be shared with Germany’s Christian Ried and young Italian Matteo Cairoli.
Joel heads to England in full shape: the pre-season collective test held at Monza on 29th March has allowed to familiarize himself with a car and a team he already know well, and the unforseen participation to the Blancpain GT Asia round at Sepang last week has been a perfect opportunity to take in race mileage. There couldn’t be a better preparation ahead of a campaign that will be open and closely-fought, especially in the LMGTE category, with a number of top level rivals.
The 3 Hours of Silverstone will take place on Saturday 15th April, starting at 15:30 hours, Central European time.
Joel Camathias:
“I’m obviously delighted to take the track again for what is the real start of my season. The European Le Mans Series is one of the top endurance series at international level, with a tremendously high level, especially this year. I am happy to be again at the wheel of a Porsche, a car and a brand that are close to my heart, and associated with Proton, whose professional approach I know well as they were the technical partners following the 911 I drove last year in the WEC. Having again as team mate Christian Ried, with whom there is a perfect match, gives me a lot of confidence, and I went along immediately with Matteo Cairoli, a very young driver but tremendously talented. On top, racing last week at Sepang has been very helpful to get rid of the ‘winter rust’, so there many reasons to do well in the ELMS, a series where I collected many satisfactions in the past. I only hope that the Balance of Performance of the cars elaborated by the organizers is the right one and don’t poses a challenge to our car. Still, the most important and nice thing is that we are back to business and ready to fight for very good results!”
