With five days to go to the prologue of the 2018 ELMS and a major week with the 4-Hour race on the Castellet circuit, the sporting director of IDEC SPORT, Nicolas Minassian takes a look at the forthcoming season.
The 9th April will be an important step for IDEC SPORT, as the team will be entering two LMP2s for the first time in the 2018 European Le Mans Series. The Ligier JSP217 will be back on the tarmac on the Castellet circuit alongside the Oreca 07, the team’s recent acquisition. With just five days to go before the engines are turned on for the first time this year, Nicolas Minassian looks at how IDEC SPORT is doing.
“The first thing I’d like to say is well done to the team. The work they have managed to do over the past few weeks was complicated, but everyone is giving it their all and not looking at the clock,” said the pleased Sporting Director of IDEC SPORT. “For this season, we have to deal with two cars. Each car requires its own specific team. So we have more people working for us, but we are ready for the start of the season, even if we’d always like more time.”
If the mechanics and engineers are ready, the drivers have been busy too. The team is now all present with in the Ligier #27, Patrice Lafargue leading the battle, along with Érik Maris and William Cavailhes and on the Oreca #28, Paul Lafargue, Paul Loup Chatin and Memo Rojas .
As the first test of the season draws near, Nicolas Minassian appears confident. “We will be tackling the prologue with the usual professionalism you associate with IDEC SPORT. These two days on the track will help us settle in and get used to things and the team needs that, both in the pit stop and telemetry and the driver handover.”
These two days on the track will be crucial to be efficient at the Paul Ricard 4-Hour Race. Patrice Lafargue’s team are going to have to find a comfortable yet competitive set-up for the race. The programme includes driving at night, which will be a warm up for the team and the drivers with the Le Mans 24-Hour Race ahead of them.
The Paul Ricard 4-Hour Race (15th April)
“The most important thing in this first race will be ensuring the cars are reliable and finding a simple strategy, as the championship is even more competitive than before with 19 LMP2s. We need to finish all the races in order to be well placed. We will be doing our utmost to be competitive. It would be great to start with a place on the podium after all we have done over the past month. I can see that the whole team is up for it and can’t wait to get out there on the track,” added Nicolas Minassian.
See you on 9th April to follow the performance of IDEC SPORT at the 2018 ELMS prologue, and less than a week later for the Paul Ricard 4-Hour Race (15th April).
