Pierre-François Rousselot: “I have never earned a cent other than through cars”

Hello Pierre-François. Did Carroll Shelby make such an impression on you that you fell for a Cobra?

When I switched back to History twenty years ago, it was behind the wheel of a Spice Group C, which I ended up selling. I didn't want to buy a big car and first fell for a Lotus Elan. I did a few races, each time with reliability problems. I had also hit a little too low in terms of power. I was frustrated at getting colds from guys who were driving like fools. I searched and came across Fabian Sarrailh, Robert's son, who financed a lot of pilots through his company ATS. Fabien took over from his father, but as a preparer and no longer a sponsor. I entrusted him with my Lotus and asked him to make it reliable. He told me we had to make a new one! In my mind, that wasn't possible. That's when he told me about this Cobra and explained that they had built five of them 20 years ago, sold three and kept one, on which Pescarolo and Tambay won at Goodwood (England). So there was one left that they could prepare for me. I told her banco on the condition that it weighs such and such, for such a price, within such a time frame. What they managed to do in one year. This is one of the most beautiful Cobra Daytona replicas. Genuine models cost $17-18 million and don't run. This season we made it work better and better. They had thought of it in an overly “exhibition” spirit but my goal was not to win the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (United States), so we worked. I scored my first two victories this weekend in Albi (a 2nd place would follow in Dijon, before he stopped the Historic Tour 2021 to