A new challenge for Charles Milesi
New team, and new tandem: Charles Milesi, a native of Chaumont, will compete in the entire 2022 World Endurance Championship (WEC).
2021 world champion, with the WRT team, he returns to the LMP2 category. On the other hand, it will be with the French team Richard Mille that the Haut-Marnais of origin will ride this season. His first exchanges with his mechanics and the “staff” went wonderfully.
« As it’s a French team, my acclimatization was facilitated, » explains Charles Milesi. “Thanks to that, our first work session went very well. Last week, the French driver traveled to Spain, to the Aragon circuit, for private testing. His “Richard Mille” is actually similar equipment to his WRT last year, with some regulatory changes.
« It’s the same chassis as the one I drove last year, » he explains. “The only thing that changes is a drop in aerodynamic downforce for the LMP2s, so that the Hypercars (top category) are further away in performance. »
A trio with two champions
For the 2022 WEC season, Charles Milesi will not only have a car he knows, but also teammates of choice: the eight-time world rally champion, Sébastien Ogier in the first place.
“It’s quite impressive to work with “Seb”. He is eight times world rally champion, and I can assure you that he will perform quickly this season,” assures Charles Milesi.
Ogier thus imitates his compatriot Sébastien Loeb – nine-time world rally champion – by embarking on endurance. Loeb joined the Pescarolo team in 2005 and finished 2nd in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.and place in the 2021 championship.
Despite the inexperience of his teammates in sports-prototypes, he is not worried, quite the contrary.
“I have total confidence in my teammates, even if they haven’t done a lot of testing yet. They work a lot with the team and sometimes turn to me. We get on very well. »
Richard Mille will go to the Paul-Ricard circuit (Var) from February 12 to 14, for the last off-season tests. They will be the ultimate preparation for the coming season. Especially since the United Autosport, Jota and WRT teams will be ready to fight for the world title, in LMP2.
Charles Milesi does not intend to project himself, but « take the races one after the other ».
For the native of Champagne, the challenge for this 2022 season will be twofold: on the one hand to defend his title of world champion, with two new team members. On the other hand, casually the most important thing for an endurance driver: winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time in a row, which Lilou Wadoux and Sébastien Ogier would achieve for the first time in their careers.
Links with Alpine
Charles Milesi’s former team, WRT, had links with Audi, which will make its return to endurance, in the Hypercar class, the premier category of endurance. His world title also earned him a test with Toyota, already engaged in Hypercar with its GR010.
But with Richard Mille, things are now different: you should know that 2022 will be the last year for LMP2s, since they will become Hypercars next year. The current teams will then forge links with the many manufacturers who will soon be involved. Among them, Alpine, which will have its Hypercar in 2024, with Richard Mille as a partner. Certainly the future is not yet written, but it still delivers clues.
B.D
