24 Hours of Le Mans - Meeting with the French Drivers

Fabien Barthez – n°23 Ligier JSP2 Nissan – Panis Barthez Competition

I feel a lot of emotion to be here with my team but I’m mainly proud. It’s a bit confused when we look at all of this with Olivier, it’s weird to see our name and to have been accepted by the ACO for our first season, we are really happy to be here. For me, concerning my work it didn’t change a lot, I don’t’ have more work, not like Olivier! I’m a driver and I have to concentrate on my work. The philosophy of our team is based on the transmission before the result and the sporting side. We want to highlight our integrity and the image of our team.

It’s a legendary and mythical race but it’s also a team work so we have to put aside our ego and to be at the team disposal, this is the essential of the race.

Julien Canal – n°41 Gibson 015S Nissan – Greaves Motorsport

It’s the only race of the year where we are close to everybody, the fans, the media and for me it’s special because I’m crossing the Place de la République every day, and I drive in the Hunaudières straight often so it’s really special for me to do Le Mans. Contrary to my team mates, I sleep at home all the week so it’s not always easy to concentrate!

We know that the Ligier is really efficient and we won the championship with it last year. Now in Le Mans we have a deficit of speed in the straight, we are missing a little bit compared with the Oreca, so we know that it won’t be an easy race. Le Mans is a tough race but I think that we are able to be on the podium this year, even if it’s going to be complicated because I think that ten cars can win this year.

Pierre Thiriet – n°46 Oreca Nissan 05 – Thiriet By TDS Racing

The n°1 goal is to finish the race because Le Mans is such a special event; among all our races (in Le Mans) we saw the finish 50% of the time.  With intense and  great work by all the team, the goal is to finish. Now we have a driver line-up, a team  and a technical package that are really good to allow us to finish in a good position. If we finish we will obviously try to fight in front.

My best moment here was when we were on the podium in 2012.

Le Mans in 3 word: speed – passion – history