Le retour français
Sebastien Bourdais of Pescarolo Sport
By
Margot Orenchuk
Photos courtesy Noel Bradford and Margot Orenchuk
LA
SARTHE, France (May 2,
2004) – Most people in North America who know
the name Sebastien Bourdais have a picture of him behind the wheel of the
McDonalds Newman-Haas Champ Car. In France, particularly this part of
France at this time of year, although you still find him at the head of the
pack, Bourdais, joined by teammates Nicolas Minassian and Emmanuel Collard,
will be piloting the Pescarolo-Playstation-C60-Judd for Pescarolo Sport.
Henri Pescarolo is a well-known name at Le Mans. In fact he is known as
“Mr. 24 Hours” there – he has entered the fabled race 33 times and counts 4
victories to his name. In 2002 Pescarolo Courage finished 4th, "Best
Team Not Audi", and that was a triumph; but in 2004, the team, M.
Pescarolo and young M. Bourdais have much higher aspirations. The two-car
team once again plans to make Audi’s life very difficult and scramble by at
least some of them as far up the Victory Podium as they can go. At the
recent Pre-Qualifying event in April, Bourdais and the car served warning
and took a few minutes to talk about the experience with RFM’s Margot
Orenchuk.
Margot Orenchuk:
How overwhelming is going into THE biggest show In the World, being French,
and born in the town of
Le Mans?
Sebastien Bourdais:
Being from
Le Mans is the real deal. A lot of people start to know me now. Also, the
Pescarolo Team is based in
Le Mans, so, the whole deal is local, and that’s very nice.
MO: The demands
on your time must be crushing. Just what is expected of you?
SB: A local
team didn’t win LeMans since 1980, and that’s been a huge thing when it
happened
(people are still talking about it today, you know).
Le Mans 24 is more a team race, and over anything, people are excepting
the car 17 to do well. Of course, as I will probably qualify the car, I will
have the extra pressure, but I love it!!!
MO: In June,
you are facing Audi – one scary opponent. Is your team going to be satisfied
with just a podium finish? Do they feel confident and ready? Have you got
any more team testing planned?
SB: We’re done
with testing (Paul Ricard: 2 days, PreQ). That’s the only downside with the
team. Even if Playstation is a great sponsor, there is never enough money in
Sports-car (these things cost a lot of money, especially when you have to
prepare two cars for a 24 h race). Still, we know the car was good enough
for a 33,5s in qualifying configuration, and I’m sure we can give a nice
answer to the Audis both in Q & race. Since last year, we gained 7 or 8s a
lap, so that everybody was very pleased with the performances of the car.
MO: Have you
ever raced against your father before in the same class? Is he proud or
miffed being described as “father to Sebastien” in his Bio?
SB: My dad has
dedicated is life to make his son a champion. I don’t know if he completely
achieved that, but he certainly is very proud, and me, very thankful.
MO: And your
car. Tell us about it. What is it like to drive? How did it handle out
there?
SB: As I said,
we gained
7 to 8s a lap, so it’s got to feel good!!! Seriously, I just love the
track, the atmosphere… and as the handling of our
Pescarolo-Playstation-C60-Judd is good, I have a lot of fun. We have: paddle
shifts, power-steering, carbon brakes (really cool).
RFM will be on the ground in France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and we will
be watching eagerly to see how Sebastien and Pescarolo Sport display the
form we have already seen they are capable of showing – and we hope to greet
them on the Victory Podium at the end of the most exciting road race on
Earth. Not to add to the pressure but we expect great things! Meet us back
here during the week of Le Mans 2004 to hear how it all works out.
