Harald Primat and Christophe Tinseau will hope to secure the unofficial LMP1 petrol honours in the Le Mans Series as the season draws to a close this weekend at Silverstone.
With the overall title set to be a straight fight between the factory diesel entries from Audi and Peugeot, Pescarolo go into the weekend embroiled in battle with Charouz Racing Systems, Creation AIM and Oreca to be 'best of the rest' in LMP1, with Primat and Tinseau currently level on points with the #15 Creation and just a point behind the Charouz Lola.
Having picked up just a single point at the Nurburging, Primat and Tinseau will now need to run well at Silverstone in an effort to move ahead of the Charouz entry and Primat admitted it was going to be a tight battle.
“It is going to be a close call but it is an exciting and very interesting challenge that we are going to embrace with a lot of energy,” he said. “Silverstone is a six hour race and we will push all the way to the chequered flag. In many ways the last round at the Nurburgring was very frustrating as without the transmission problem, which cost us so much time, a really strong result was possible. However the way we fought back from nowhere to take a point for eighth place shows just how competitive our package is and who knows how crucial that point will be at the end of the season.
“We need to stay error-free and not have any problems with the car's reliability but with the work the team did at the last two tests I am very confident. It is difficult to make predictions for a six hour race but we know that we have to score points to win the petrol class. The Charouz Racing Lola Aston Martin was very strong at the Nurburgring, but they have had some reliability issues at other races and so there is no reason why we can't overhaul them in the standings. From a personal perspective I'm going to qualify the car and start the race. It is a high responsibility but that is why I'm here. As always we want to finish the season on a high not only for the team but also for all our partners who have supported us in 2008.”
Primat added that he was pleased with the way the season had gone as a whole, with the French privateer squad having managed to break onto the podium during the course of the year despite the four diesel cars on the grid.
“Overall we've had a good season and made real progress since 2007,” he said. “The whole package has improved and we've been the best fuel car for much of the year and at Le Mans. We also scored an outright podium at Monza and that achievement shouldn't be underestimated because with two Audis and two Peugeots on the grid, and the massive advantage they have from running diesel engines, podiums have been at a premium for everybody else.
“We've had a couple of technical problems here and there which have cost us points, but generally I think everyone is happy with 2008.”
