Life is a nonstop renewal, as the seasons are year after year… and in motorsport, it’s the same. The 2017 endurance season started its new spring this week-end in Silverstone, Great Britain. There is always a big challenge into starting a new season… new cars, new drivers, at Silverstone very special weather conditions, a track with very high speed and drivers that are ready to challenge after sometimes a long winter break.
MOTIVATED FROM THE FIRST PRACTICES
During this very winter break, Xavier Combet manager of TDS Racing made a significant step by entering the French team in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the British Silverstone race circuit was the scenery of these debuts, giving the team the chance to validate a lot of points, suppress any type of doubts away and most of all look forward the championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
A full French driver line up took place behind the wheel of #28 ORECA 07 TDS Racing, with François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxivière and Emmanuel Collard. The two first are real “rookies” in the LMP2 category while the third one, Manu Collard has the biggest endurance experience, but had not take the wheel of a prototype for some years. Matthieu Vaxivière comes from single sitters racing (FR 3.5).
As soon as Friday and Saturday after the free practice sessions, TDS Racing ORECA 07s showed that the team is at the correct place, and again on Saturday after qualifying session, where #28 set the 7th LMP2 best lap time. Sunday at noon, the 27 entries of the 2017 FIAWEC season, roared on the track to offer the spectators a fabulous race in all the categories.
A RACE UNDER CONTROL
#28 TDS Racing started the season in the best possible way. After two hours, Matthieu Vaxivière at the wheel from the beginning, had put the car on second position in the LMP2 category. François Perrodo taking over Matthieu, experienced a fabulous double stint, showing a very constant and fast drive, and also looking for fight in his first prototype race… Even though he was in the car when the rain showed up on the British race track, and after a Full Course Yellow, François brought the car back to hand it to Manu Collard at 17h17. The former F1 test driver put his full experience on the table, full tank and new tyres gave him the right tools to keep the car in the LMP2 top 3… Matthieu took over for the final stint and passed third LMP2 under the chequered flag.
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THEIR RACE :
François Perrodo (Bronze driver- FRA)
“ I am super happy, I don’t really realize yet, I just fell wonderful. It’s amazing, I can’t say any other way… This morning, I was saying that a podium in the 2017 season would be a good thing, because our team is new in WEC, the driver line up is made of inexperienced drivers in prototypes (Matt and myself), and Manu has not driven a prototype in a while. We have to learn a lot.
Of course, it’s hard racing. When I stepped in the car after Matthieu, I was a little stressed out, a little more than usual, I must admit. But hey, I am really happy, because one of my problems is that it takes me usually a little time to get into the rhythm. But here, after one lap I just felt great and I could make some good times. I even made it under 1:50 without trying that hard. I was just feeling great. The way you have to deal with traffic is quite different to what I have experienced so far. But my GT knowledge was very helpful as I know exactly where you have to be with a GT, so I know exactly where I can overtake with the prototype…
It’s impressive. Compared to the GT racing, the LMP2 driving is so much quicker that there is no place for distraction… if you are not 110% concentrated, it is immediately a problem.
In the middle of my second stint I started to feel a little tired, it’s hard stuff… so I managed to the end without losing any place, staying concentrated, but without trying too hard. When the rain started, even though I love the rain, I was happy to hand the car to Matt. It’s just incredible. If anyone had told me I would stand on the podium on my first LMP2 race, I would have smiled…. It’s really fantastic! ”
Matthieu Vaxivière (Gold – FRA)
“ In my first stints, it took me some time to find the correct position in the car, in addition I had the feeling I had some gearbox problem, which hindered me to break as late as I would have liked too. So I couldn’t use the full potential of the car even though it felt great. To be very honest I would never have bet on us on the podium… it was one of our objectives for the season, but not that soon… We have a great and interesting driver line-up, and each one of us has his own history. François started here to compete with the prototype, Manu knows that very well, but he had not driven in the category for a while… on the other hand we all feel the same and are in the same team mood. We worked perfectly together these last months, and our goal was to be in the Top 5.
So, it’s a surprise to be third today, now we will have to work even harder to keep up to this, but this is really really great. On the other hand, we keep calm, we will continue to work well, to fulfil the programs we have decided with the team and to go for good places at every race. Of course, it gives us confidence, and to start the season like that, is a mega bonus. Sincerely, I was surprised with François in his stint… He was constant, quick, and sometime event quicker than some good Silver drivers… ”
Emmanuel Collard (Platinium – FRA)
“ We are truly and sincerely happy with his result. It’s much more than we would have expected, and a great surprise. But it’s also the result of a good team work, of a well thought and managed race strategy. We had a good car, a good driver line up, a good strategy and even if we were not the fastest on track, we were constant and did not make any mistakes. This is a great part of what endurance racing is all together. It’s a fantastic result, a very good way to start 2017. ”
Xavier Combet – Team Manager
“ We are very pleased for the whole team. TDS Racing is new to WEC and we have a totally new driver line-up, so this result is a wonderful surprise. We decided from the beginning to put everything on the table to get to a podium at one point this year, but we did not expect to do it at the first race. It comes early in the season and this gives us a great confidence, mostly for François who discovers the prototype driving. Nevertheless, this victory shall not be the only objective of the season, and we will continue working hard. It promises a very interesting season, in which all of our drivers can only progress race after race. We will stay humble and concentrated because everyone knows that motorsport can bring a lot of surprises all along the season. This podium is a very good start and will add dynamism. We want other nice surprises like this one. See you in Spa to go on with this great team work. ”
