Collard: “I found it borderline”

Emmanuel, while you were leading GT2, you left the track following an overtake by Anthony Davidson (Peugeot #1). You must have been angry?
The damage is done? but it's true that I was very, very disappointed with him after the race. He knew he had made a mistake and he didn't come to see me. I found it a bit limiting. In addition, he made statements in the press in which he said that it was not his fault, that he did not care, that he was there to fight and try to get back at the Audis. Was I disappointed with that? In the end, I received an email yesterday (Wednesday) from him, in which he takes full responsibility for the accident (see video).

Do you think he revised his position by watching the images of the overtaking?
He didn't need to see the images again, he knows very well that this is a place where you can't overtake the GTs. All he had to do was wait two seconds, he overtook me on the outside on the “right” of the karting and it was good, no problem.

What feeling dominates, a few days after the 24 Hours of Le Mans ?
It?s frustrating, especially since it?s still me in the car. Already, at Sebring, there was a problem and I was there (clash in the pits with the other Corvette, editor's note). There, is it still me who was in the car at the time of the accident? Well, Corvette is 100% behind me, they saw what happened. But it?s still a bit boring.

What did you think of your race so far?
It was great, we rode well. I had a good fight with the Ferrari at the start of the race. I saw that it wasn't going to last long because they were on all the vibrators, it was jumping in all directions. We managed to drive at the same time while managing the car. So, we were quite confident and we managed to make a gap over the hours, notably taking a lap lead after 18 p.m.

What follow-up will you give to your season?
The rest of the season is Petit Le Mans with Corvette, my last race. In the meantime, I hope to find two or three freelancers. Particularly for the 24 Hours of Spa, and I would also like to do other things before Petit Le Mans.

Are you thinking of joining Corvette again in 2011? Is there a contract planned?
No, not for the moment. As far as I am concerned, I have not yet entered into the discussions. It is a bit early. Then I would like to get a good result before talking about anything?

Before joining Corvette, did you have other avenues?
Corvette was the main track. There were others but it's a bit long to explain? I had a possibility with a good prototype but it couldn't be done.

How is your season going at Corvette?
At Corvette, it?s a little different compared to certain teams because it?s a factory team: it?s less family-oriented than it could be at Henri (Pescarolo) for example and there are a lot more people . But it's going very, very well. In addition, the atmosphere remains quite cool. They are very nice people, who know how to put pilots at ease, even new ones. I had no problem adapting.