LOUIS DELETRAS. ANOTHER ELMS CHAMPION FOR THE SECOND YEAR
The Italian team Prema Racing snatched the LMP2 title in the European Le Mans Series at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão, in its very first season in endurance sports-prototype.
Having only had to secure a place in the Top 10, the trio of Oreca 07 n°9, made up of Swiss Louis Delétraz, Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg and Ecuadorian Juan Manuel Correa, imposed itself with manner, by thwarting the showers and with daring strategic choices!
At the age of 25, Louis Delétraz won his second consecutive title, with four victories out of the six events on the 2022 calendar in this Championship considered to be one of the most competitive in the world.
As soon as this new victory, he let go:
» The race went very well, because we won (smile). My teammates left me behind the wheel with a huge lead because the team opted for a good strategy by wanting to save fuel,”
The son, former pilot Jean Denis Deletraz, continued:
» This year, we have learned a lot, including the makes it better to have more fuel than not enough. We had more than the others and I think that’s what allowed us to get this victory. They also let me go on slicks, in heavy rain, it was very slippery and the only thing I had to do was 1er or 10e, but it had to be finished. This last hour and 10 minutes was very long and I only wanted one thing, to stay on track.
Before the Swiss, the Frenchman Nelson Panciatici, with the Alpine team, is the last driver to have won the crown two years in a row. It was at the beginning of the ELMS, in 2013 and 2014.
» That’s wonderful. I think few pilots have accomplished that, all the more two years in a row. It is a real honor and a real pleasure. I can only thank my teammates from last year and this year, but also the teams. I hope to win a third in the future, maybe next year, I don’t know. It would be fantastic. »
It’s hard not to compare with the title acquired last year with WRT, for the first full season in LMP2 for the Belgian team of Vincent Vosse…
» It’s just as awesome. Prema is a new prototype team and we really work hard. We had complicated moments when we wanted to give up because things were going badly, not necessarily in the ELMS, but in the WEC, but also moments of joy. To do it together in this way is fantastic.
With the 2022 ELMS season now over, all eyes are on the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship.
» I think we can no longer win the FIA WEC Championship mathematically. We want to win in Bahrain because we haven’t won a WEC round yet. The goal will be to try to grab second place in the Championship and we will also be doing tests this week to further develop the car. The team never gives up. »
