Michelin Le Mans Cup with Racing Experience!
I can’t tell you exactly how long I’ve waited to announce this, maybe not much more than a few months, but it’s felt like forever… Inevitably, there have been points throughout my career when I’ve pushed myself to take big leaps forwards – buying the Formula Renault to go racing in France was one of them, as was the move to race with Schatz Competition in 2017 (my first time in a team) at the wheel of a Norma M20FC, and driving it on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans for my first ever endurance race.
This is one of those moments, I can’t tell you how hard I’ve worked to make this happen, at times I still need to pinch myself to be sure it’s actually happening for real!
A few weeks on from that race, I was at prize giving for the Championnat de France la Montagne in Paris, onboard a boat moored on the Seine as is the tradition for Remise des Prix. It was late and I got chatting with Norbert Santos, founder of Norma Automotive. I’d come to know him over the years in the CFM, I think I was telling him how incredible the M20FC was on a circuit, and he said some nice things about how I’d driven.
Why am I telling you this? Well it may have been late, but I’ll never forget his parting comment ‘tu sais, tu dois rouler en LMP3 dans une M30, tu est prête’
A month later I recall standing in front of a Norma M30, looking a little sinister in bare carbon on the Bute Motorsport stand in 2018. I’d just tried their sim driving an LMP3 car around Donington, and struck up a conversation with Écurie Écosse/Neilsen Racing driver Colin Noble. We’d met on the Radical SR3 Shootout, and I remember telling him how I was planning to get some experience that year in the Ginetta GT5 Challenge before aiming for LMP3. At the time it felt like an ambitious goal, albeit achievable, I’ve always believed that if you want something enough the universe will find a way to make it happen…
To join Racing Experience this season at the wheel of a brand new M30 feels incredible, ever since I tested their JS P3 at Chambley last year, I’ve only ever had one goal this season – Michelin Le Mans Cup. Drawing on 40 years of experience in both hillclimb & circuit racing, the family run team from Luxembourg have enjoyed success in multiple disciplines ranging from Formula Renault 1.6 Belgium, ATS Formula 3 Cup, BossGP (Dallara GP2), Luxembourgish and FIA European hillclimb championship, and most recently GT & Prototype Challenge with a Ligier LMP3. I first met them at St Ursanne Les Rangiers in 2015 where David Hauser was contesting the Swiss round of the FIA European Hillclimb Championship – you may be familiar with the clip of his car screaming it’s Mecachrome V8 up the unrelenting course.
I’ll be sharing the car with brothers David & Gary Hauser across the six rounds of the championship, starting with Paul Ricard/Castellet in mid April. Of course the highlight of the year is the third round, the Road to Le Mans race that takes place over the 24hr week at La Sarthe. The races are normally 2 hours with a driver change mid way (David & Gary will contest alternate races), whereas the race in June is split into two 1 hour races, the second of which takes place on the Saturday before the 24hr of Le Mans. As well as the obvious significance of racing on the full 24hr course (it’s set up once a year), it’s one of only two options where drivers can race on the full circuit and gain invaluable experience – the other is of course the Le Mans Classic.
Our first test together is confirmed for the 18th March at Paul Ricard, I’ve been training hard in the gym, at Cranfield Simulation and with AlphaSport Psychology. Everything is going to plan, I feel fit and focused, and I just can’t wait for that first time we fire up the Norma’s thundering 5 litre V8!
Photos: Scruffy Bear Pictures & Motorsport.com