Pescarolo: “Find a budget”

Henri, looking back, what is the feeling that dominates after the final round of Le Mans Series at Silverstone?
First of all, immense satisfaction because we were able to show that we have the best car currently, at least in terms of petrol engines. We managed to fight against the best cars, to show our value. Jean-Christophe (Boullion, driver in the first hour, who moved up the entire peloton from last place, editor's note) was magnificent.

But it is also a huge disappointment because we experienced an unexplained breakdown which cost us the victory. These bearing problems bother us a lot because it breaks twice in a row and it's not the same each time. It's incomprehensible but it makes us lose the championship. It's exasperating and annoying because we don't know the reason. In mechanics, unexplained breakdowns annoy me a lot. It ruins part of the season for us. Even if we win once and finish second twice, these two races where we had problems are twice too many.

So these breakdowns spoil the results of a season that could have ended on a very good note?
Obviously, since our record should have been a championship victory ahead of Aston Martin. But I still have the satisfaction of having managed to develop the car in such a way that it can compete and beat the best currently.

Can the level of performance of the car give the team confidence for next season?
It's really too early to talk about the next season because we don't know at all what we're going to do.

The economic context still prevents you from projecting yourself towards 2010?
Unfortunately, the economic context is far from glorious. The famous economic recovery, which everyone is talking about, in my opinion, is not for 2010. The context is not favorable for finding partners. Everyone is in big trouble right now. This is why we really can't talk about next season. There are a lot of ellipses and a few question marks. Everyone is looking for money for next season and it's not a win for anyone.

Beyond the economic context, the performance of your prototype should give you good hopes on the sporting side?
I cannot ignore the economic context, to which the sports sector is directly linked. The evolution of the car and its future result from the budget allocated for its development. This year, if we hadn't been able to do so much wind tunnel work, we would never have had such a competitive car. The ability of Pescarolo Sport to have a good season next year is closely linked to our ability to find budgets.

How do you stack up compared to the competition?
If there is no budgetary problem, we can continue to develop the car in order to try to get closer, despite very unfavorable regulations, to cars with diesel engines. Nobody knows what will become of diesel engines next year and at what performance level gasoline engines will be. The only certainty is that if a car does not evolve, it regresses.

The rest of your program is therefore on hold while waiting to find partners…
The big advantage is that we will start with a very good car. Between now and the first races of the next season, and given that everyone is going to make new cars only for 2011, it would surprise me if there were huge changes to the cars that we saw at Silverstone. It is therefore our advantage to be able to count on one of the best current cars, being able to approach next season knowing that it will be competitive. But during the season, we will have to evolve. As it is, it has very good potential. The most important thing is therefore to find an operating budget before a development budget.