Nicolas Lapierre : “It’s up to us to make the case”

Nicolas, what are your thoughts going into the 1000km of Spa?

“We are arriving in Belgium at the top of the ILMC standings, so with a certain amount of calm. We know that Spa will likely be even more difficult than Sebring, with six factory prototypes that are more developed. We saw at the Test Day that the Audi R18 and Peugeot 908 have evolved quite a bit. On our side, we can count on a very good car, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP, with reliability that has proven itself.”

Is this “only” a preparation race?

“Not for the drivers at least! (laughs) We want a good result. The best way to prepare for Le Mans would be to win! We will be in the same position as Sebring and at Le Mans: stay quick to keep touch with the leaders and jump on any opportunities that present themselves.”

Does last year’s shortened race change your approach?

“No, not really. We didn’t really do well at Spa in 2009 and 2010. That said, it wasn’t really our doing. In contrast, Sebring brought a lot of confidence to the whole team. This puts us in a good position to take on this race. We know that we aren’t the fastest, but we have things to prove. It’s up to us to make the case.”