Intersport Racing's Liz Halliday talks about her second appearance at Le Mans in the Lola, and after a strong showing last year hopes her great season with the team in the American Le Mans Series will translate to Le Mans this year...
Q:
What do you remember most about your debut at Le Mans last year?
LH:
It was amazing really the most spectacular event I have ever been a part of. I remember the feeling when I took to the track for the first time and thinking, 'Wow, I'm actually here!' Also, the fans were incredible it was totally unbelievable to be around the hundreds of thousands of people who come to watch the race. I really can't wait to take part again!
Q:
You led the LMP2 class for quite some time before a mechanical failure caused the car's retirement. How do you think this year be different, for you and the team?
LH:
I think that we were a strong team last year, but since then we've had more time to get to know the car. AER has also done more work on the engine reliability as well, so in theory, we should be even better prepared this time. Last year's Le Mans was also my first race in this car. Since then, I have had lots more races and success with the team and the car. We have a great driver line-up and team, and hopefully we will be on the podium at the end.
Q:
Looking ahead to the weekend, the weather forecast looks undecided. Do you have a preference for the weather?
LH:
For a really long race, I usually prefer it to be dry because otherwise, there can be so many ups and downs. Le Mans is such a long track that if you get stuck out there on slicks in a downpour, you can be in trouble. Also, because its so long, you can have rain on half the circuit and dry on the other half, which makes for a real tyre issue - far more than it would on a short track. But I've driven the car in the wet now and it's good, so I think we'd be OK. But obviously it would be easier in the dry, definitely. It also wouldn't be much fun in the wet in an open-top car the driver would get pretty wet.
Q:
What LMP2 cars will be your main competitors?
LH:
I think our main competitors will be the RML car, which won last year and the Belmondo cars, as they tend to be very reliable. There are many more competitors this year that we need to be wary of, such as Synergy, Rollcentre and Binnie Motorsports.
Q:
Do you think being the only woman puts extra pressure on you?
LH:
I've never been one of many woman anyway. I'm the only one in ALMS and last year, there were only two of us. I guess there's some added pressure because people will always remember if you mess up. But hopefully not much more than for anyone else.
