Olivier Panis after the podium at Le Castellet: “We will fight for 1st place in each race”

For a first of the season, Panis Racing is off to a flying start. Under the leadership of Olivier Panis, owner and team principal, the French team secured its first podium of the year at the end of a lively and thrilling 4 Hours of Le Castellet. The former winner of a Grand Prix Formula 1 even displays very high ambitions for his crew, which he considers capable of fighting for victory in each round.

“The championship is even higher this season”

In addition to Prema's domination from start to finish – and incidentally his first victory in Endurance After only its second race, the weekend's performance at Le Castellet is certainly to the credit of Panis Racing. Comfortable and very fast throughout the weekend, the French team only qualified in fifth position after a session punctuated by a late red flag. But in the race, the pace displayed by Julien Canal initially, and especially by Nico Jamin subsequently, who successively overtook almost all of his competitors, was enough to satisfy the team boss at the end of the weekend. .

“It’s a very positive first race with our new driver Job Van Uitert, Nico Jamin, who we had the pleasure of meeting again and our faithful Julien Canal, analyzes Olivier Panis. They have built well together all week with the team which has undergone some changes but continues, still under the technical direction of Florent Gouin, to have a level of performance and seriousness as demonstrated for several years.

Julien did 2 big stints in sometimes difficult conditions with safety cars and as usual, he managed very well. Subsequently Nico was impressive, 'avionics' from start to finish and Job, for his debut with us, was solid until the end. The championship is even higher this season but we will fight to get 1st place in each race. »

We're happy with today's result 🥉 Great job by the whole team 💪
We're already focused on Imola aiming for the first step of the podium 👊

???? @MPS__AGENCY pic.twitter.com/8WxRM6wDMt

— Panis Racing (@panisracing) April 17, 2022

An ambition diffused within the entire team, since the speech at the end of the weekend at Castellet seemed even more ambitious than this third place at the finish.

“The state of mind at Panis Racing is friendly, we have as much fun together off the track as we are serious about working to achieve results on the track, confides Nico Jamin, author of the team's spectacular comeback. We will continue to concentrate on gaining 2 more steps in the next round. »

For three seasons now, the French team seems to be on an upward slope, moving successively from tenth, to fourth and then to third place in the general classification. But barely time to breathe when the next event already arrives, with the return of the 4 Hours of Imola, organized from May 13 to 15, after six years of absence. A race in which Panis Racing also finished seventh in 2016, when it was still called “Panis Barthez Racing” with a certain Fabien Barthez at the wheel. A time that now seems very distant.

READ ALSO: 4 Hours of Le Castellet – Prema takes his first victory in Endurance