Prost: “Times have changed”

Alain, what did you like about the Dacia project?
There is a real group strategy, with sports on one side, marketing on the other. In addition to having built a new car, we are going to highlight the Dacia brand in a highly publicized discipline for two to three months, in a fairly offbeat way. There is a funny side, it surprises people a little. We would perhaps never have been able to do this project four or five years ago. Today, times have changed, with the automobile evolving at all levels.

Why Dacia, a ?low cost? brand? of Renault, invests in motorsport?
Before, people talked about Logan as a brand. But the brand is Dacia, the Logan is just a model. We must therefore employ a real strategy to highlight the Dacia brand and make it gain notoriety, so that it can stand on its own. I don't know how far we will go in the future, but Dacia corresponds to what people want. The price remains the number one argument when buying a car for many French people.

Do you think you can win the Andros Trophy ?
The project is brand new, we decided on it quite late. Our car has quite a few new features and it was only ready this week. We will certainly encounter small teething defects. You won't have to be too far away during the first races to progress afterwards. It will be the opposite strategy of our competitors (Skoda), who will seek to score as many points as possible during the first races. The goal is to fight until the end to win the Trophy.

You are working again with the Renault group, with which you drove in Formula 1, is it a wink?
It’s a group that I know well, it’s true. But it is a group that is evolving as much as the automotive world is evolving. People change, strategies differ…

Is the level of competitiveness higher in the Andros Trophy this year?
The level is automatically higher. There are more and more advanced pilots. They are often the same but they have more and more experience, with more and more advanced cars. There is more and more competition.

What will your strategy be?
You have to be able to win races but also play placed because there is the weight handicap system. We must not let ourselves be surprised because, if we mess up, we could end up seventh, eighth? It can make the difference.

You were talking about changing times. Electric cars are coming to the Trophy. What does this inspire you?
The positive side is that we can bring together traditional cars and a project to develop electric cars. Because it really is about development. I tested the car and, compared to last year, there are already big changes. You have to trust the engineers. People from big companies look at this with a lot of goodwill.

Do you think that the emergence of electric cars will lead to a new generation of drivers?
If we go in this direction, there will necessarily be a generation of ?electric? drivers. because they are two slightly different driving styles. These are habits to adopt.

So you believe in the emergence of electric motorsport?
Are there other problems? This is why I like the formula of the Andros Trophy which combines the two. If we want to go electric too quickly, we would brutally impose electric cars on motorsport fans and they would undoubtedly be a little lost? You have to take it slowly, don't forget the notion of pleasure. When I tested the car last year, I didn't enjoy it. This year, it’s already much better.

Do you think that competition will allow developments in electric cars?
In motorsport, we seek to continually improve things. As soon as you talk about mass production, you set a technical definition for a product that will be produced in tens of thousands of copies. And, for three or four years, things will not change. This is why motor racing is important, because it is a field of experimentation. People always want to be given specific examples. But when you talk with engineers focused on this, you realize that it is a succession of small details that can give them a ?plus? afterwards. Motor racing will always be very important if we use it in this context.

Did you push your son Nicolas to enter the Andros Trophy?
Yes, it's good for him. He already has an ?endurance? established for the next two years. He was supposed to do the A1GP but it was postponed. He did few races, he had little chance of riding in the rain, I found that it was a double reason to acclimatize to the ice to get a little feeling. I would have liked to have been able to do it during the F1 era, not necessarily in competition but in training. It?s always a good thing, it allows you to get into a racing rhythm.

Who are the favorites for the Andros Trophy?
Unquestionably, Jean-Philippe Dayraut (winner last season). Maybe even Olivier (Panis). They are from the same team (Skoda), it?s difficult to know how well it can go. We arrive with a new team, a new car, we are the challengers.

Any other subject: what do you think of the choice of circuit to host the French F1 Grand Prix?
It is up to the government to decide. Disney was undoubtedly the best project, before Flins. But there are more and more problems with the Greens, with a certain image. In any case, it won't happen around Paris.

Can Jean Todt, president of the FIA, help in this regard?
We must not think that a president, because he is French, can change everything overnight. It's definitely an advantage, but one person can't change everything. A whole synergy must be put in place. Look at the number of French sponsors who have recently invested in motorsport, particularly in Formula 1. There is not one, or almost none. It’s a whole synergy that we lost. We are, in addition, a fairly autophobic country. There is real demagoguery when it comes to environmental issues. Finally, today, in France, we do not represent a significant economic power in relation to the outside world.