Back from Retirement - Interview with Enzo Potolicchio

Q: It is good to see you back, how did this deal with Graff come about?

“I’ve been looking at different options to come back into the endurance family either with the ELMS or WEC and this deal came about at the last minute.  They needed another bronze driver for this programme with John Falb, who is leading the programme with Sean Rayhall.  We made it and I’m really happy to be here.  The P3 format looks to be very successful, the logic behind it is very good and the budget is very good; it makes a lot of sense.                                                                                 

“In the United States now endurance racing is very expensive because the schedule has too many races and many hours of running, so costs are higher.  So more and more people are looking at ELMS as an option.  In the end America is so big you need to travel anyway, so coming to Europe is small change, so logistics wise for the drivers it is pretty much the same and the schedule makes a lot of sense. So I’m really happy to be here.”

Q: You’ve won in P2, you’ve won in GTE, so now P3?

“I really hope we can secure podiums in this series, I like the competition, we’ve got more than 20 cars in LMP3 and that looks so good. I’m sure we’re going to have some fun on the track racing different people.  I had a wonderful season in P2, we won all the major races and then the championship.  For me to come back into racing at an older age and accomplishing a lot of things that most people only dream about was amazing.  Then in GTE with the help of AF Corse, we had a lot of fun and have a lot of family there.  The GTE was a good experience for me also. 

“I was retired from racing by the way. I said I was done but these guys pulled me out of retirement.  My son is at college at the moment but next year I want to give him the opportunity to do this programme, so after this year you’ll see me around but in another role.”

Q: And your new team Graff, they are well known in France and Europe, what influenced the decision to run with them?

“To be honest I didn’t have a say in the choosing of the team as the decision had already be taken by John and Sean.  They did their research, obviously it’s a good team, there are some good names involved and I had heard some good things from the people over here, so I know they will improve and develop the programme. “

Q: I understand you and Sean have worked together before.

“I supported Sean in the US, we won races together in LMPC, we won races together in IndyLights so he is one of our protégés.  A real American talent that we need over here, so we are really happy to have him with us and put him on the map here in Europe where he needs to be.”