During the month of June, Christophe Bouchut
went from race to race as he combines double
stints on racetracks all around the world: with determination and brilliance! From Watkins Glen to Le Mans, from the Supercar Life Racing Riley-BMW to the JMB Ferrari 430 GT2, the French driver once again pushed the timing screens and delighted his employers. David Stone and Jean-Michel Bouresche, for whom he was driving for the
first time, had good reason to be satisfied.
PCA Club Racing: Watkins Glen (30th-31st May)
At the Glen school!
Christophe Bouchut's boss and team-mate, Scott Tucker, showed his professionalism once more during the last weekend of May, entering two cars in the PCA Club Racing, the equivalent of the Porsche Cup in Europe.
And why such an initiative? Simply because it takes time to learn the long Watkins Glen circuit. One week before the Grand Am Sportscar Series, this allowed them to learn the track without too much pressure.
"I was driving a Carrera Cup, but the most powerful cars were the RSR cars," Christophe explained after
the weekend. "The timetable included two races: a 25-minute sprint on the Saturday, and a 90-minute race on Sunday. During the first race, I finished third behind two RSR cars, and on Sunday, I won after leading
from lights to flag. The victory was incidental, as the aim was to learn the track."
The next day saw a change of scenery, as he woke up at the foot of Niagara Falls, where he spent three days. "It is rare to be able to relax and do some sight-seeing," he commented, before returning to the 'Glen',
a veritable monument of American Motorsport!
Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series: 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (R5 4th/6th June)
Overall satisfaction.
The weekend got off to a difficult start for Christophe and Scott, as they found it difficult to find the right settings.
Forced to deal with a Riley-BMW that understeered and lacked top speed, they had to be content with 10th position
on the starting grid.
"I took the start for a double-stint," the Frenchman explained. "As we had made a few changes to the car, it worked better. It was not perfect, but it was enough to make
it competitive. From the first laps, I was able to overtake five cars in normal conditions. Then, with the safety cars and pit stops, I found myself in the lead!"
Christophe was leading when the race was neutralised once again, bringing the Safety Car out on track. At the re-start, he was given a drive-through penalty for having dropped too far back behind the safety car.
"In Grand-Am, you have to stay right behind the Safety Car, while in Europe you generally drop back slightly to be able
to get a better start. The penalty cost me the lead. Then I climbed back up again, before handing the car over to Scott, who put in a good stint, and was able to stay on the same lap as the leader."
When Christophe took the car over again, he unfortunately found that the windscreen had not been cleaned. Unable to see properly, he had to go back to the pits to get it cleaned. Now a lap down, he set off for one of his trademark triple-stints. He finally crossed the finish line in a fine 7th position.
"The result could have been a bit better, but globally everyone was satisfied. There were no mechanical problems, excellent team-work, no problems on the track, everything was perfect!"
The very next day, Christophe was back behind the wheel, as a test day had been planned on the shorter Glen circuit, which will host another round of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in August.
"It was useful to have a test day, as I had been asking to test some technical issues for some time," Christophe explained. "These proved to be quite interesting, as we were able to make significant improvements to our lap times. By the end of the day, I was credited with the second-fastest time, within a tenth of the fastest, although I was racing with old tyres. Very promising for the future."
It was in Scott's private jet that Christophe headed for New York, where he had to catch his flight for France.
"To be on the JFK tarmac in a private jet, among all those British Airways and Air France Jumbo Jets, will be something I'll remember for some time," he commented, amused. "I arrived in Paris on Monday
afternoon. I was just able to go home to change my bag before heading straight for Le Mans."
Ferrari 430 GT2 JMB: 24 Hours of Le Mans (13th-14th June)A Fantastic Week!
At nine am on Tuesday morning, Christophe was ready on the Place des Jacobins at Le Mans for the traditional scrutineering of the JMB Ferrari 432 GT2, with which he
was due to take part in the 77th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He drove it for the first time during the free practice sessions organised on Wednesday evening. A
difficult time, due to the rain, which lasted throughout the session.
"As we knew the weather was going to be fine the next day, we just bedded in brakes, set up driving positions etc. There was no point working on the set-up. And on
Thursday, the sun shone for qualifying."
An exercise which, as always on the 24 Hours circuit, was rather successful for the Frenchman.
"I set the fourth-fastest time in the category, 2nd among the Ferrari cars, equal with that from the Risi team, who are
effectively a factory team. It was even more satisfying as we definitely didn't have the same engine."
This performance did not go unnoticed, and earned Christophe a fine surprise on the starting grid, when the President of Ferrari, present in the Sarthe to commemorate Ferrari's first win at Le Mans, sixty years ago, came to talk to him.
It was a great honour to shake hands with Luca di Montezemolo who was apparently well aware of Christophe's performance. "His words of encouragement were much appreciated," Christophe said.
On the grid, Christophe was also visited by the bosses of the other leading Ferrari teams, such as Risi Competizione, BMS Scuderia Italia, etc. As the Frenchman had mentioned that he would finish his first
stint in the lead of the LM GT2 cars, they were all rather worried.
"During my first stint, my engine was not powerful enough to fight with the Risi Ferrari and the factory Porsches, but during my second stint, thanks to a better set of tyres and due to the fact that most drivers had put the air conditioning on, I started overtaking them. Despite the stifling heat, I preferred not to put on
my cooling, in order to gain some extra horsepower."
Less bothered by his engine power, Christophe overtook his rivals once by one- including Jaime Melo, considered by many to be the 430 specialist-and found himself in 2nd position, four seconds behind the
leading Porsche, when he had to hand over the car.
"At that point, we were the best Ferrari on the track, ahead of the Risi team," Christophe explained with
satisfaction. "Everyone in the JMB team was delighted."
Another race started then, as his team-mates Manuel Rodrigues and Yvan Lebon were taking part in their edition of the first 24 Hours of Le Mans, and obviously this showed in their race pace.
"The gap was too wide to hope to catch up with the leaders, and from then onwards, it was better to adopt a more relaxed race plan, to save the car as much as possible. As there was no reason for me to go to the limits, I lowered my pace."
However, in the middle of the night, after his third double stint, he decided to put an end to boredom by asking for a soft set of tyres, to try and set a time.
"The team accepted my request, and I set the best time of all the Ferrari cars on the track, a good second ahead of the 'factory' car. It was a good opportunity to make people talk about us. Finally we finished in an honourable 8th position in GT2, 29th overall, which could have been better without the collision of which Manu Rodrigues was a victim in one of the chicanes."
Hit by a prototype, the JMB Ferrari had to pit for around 20 minutes to change the door, as the hinges had been damaged.
"We also lost time due to a badly adjusted wheel," Christophe added. "I was able to avoid a disaster at Tertre Rouge when
it came off. I kept the car on the track, but I lost a lot of time bringing it back to the pits. When it came off, it took half of the caliper with it, and there was a lot of damage."
The repairs took 40 minutes, but back on the track, Bouchut found himself with the brake pedal on the floor, due to a damaged pipe. Another twenty minutes disappeared.
"In all, this hour lost us a certain fifth or sixth position," a nevertheless happy Christophe explained. "It should be remembered that the cancellation of the preliminary test sessions did not help us, compared to teams who had prior information. We could feel it in the settings. The car was good, but not as good as it could have been. On a human front, however, it was excellent. In terms of
the pleasure I had, I must admit I have undoubtedly just had my best-ever
24 Hours of Le Mans, there was such a great atmosphere in the team. I got on very well with Manu and Yvan. It was tough for them-especially for Yvan-but they held on and can be extremely proud of what they have
achieved. As far as I am concerned, I was really delighted to race with this professional and very welcoming team. For me, the 24 Hours of Le Mans
were a real success!"
On Sunday evening, Christophe left the Sarthe department to enjoy some
time with his family. A three-day break, as he will be heading for the United
States of America and the Mid Ohio circuit on Thursday, for the 6th round
of the Grand Am Sportscar Series. Straight after that, he will be heading for
Road America for a major private test session with Super Car Life Racing. June is really the endurance month!
Coming soon:
18th-19th June: Midi Ohio-6th round of the Grand-Am Sportscar Series-USA
23rd-24th June: Super car Life Racing Test Session at Road America-USA
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