Sarah Bovy: “Win ​​by the end of the season”

Sarah Bovy, how do you feel before this second race in a row at Monza after that of theELMS ?

It's nice to string two together weekends in a row on the same circuit. It's certain that last week, we showed a lot of rhythm. So we're really looking forward to getting back on track and seeing what happens. It's a real pleasure to ride here in Monza. This is the kind of track that I particularly like.

You showed this during the 4 Hours of Monza with your second place in qualifying…

Yes, it went well. In qualifying, I really tried everything to get this pole and she narrowly escapes me (for 0.071 seconds. Editor’s note). Afterwards, Christian (Ried, author of pole en LM GTE for Proton Competition. Editor's note) was in great shape last week, so good for him. In the race, the fact of having managed to take first position from the first corner freed me a little and I had free rein. This allowed me to do clean laps, but there were quite a few Safety Because then we lost the lead each time. It's a little annoying, but that's the game. The rhythm is there and sometimes we just lack a little bit of finishing, but we will manage to put everything together, that's for sure.

The team has been fast since the start of the year, but we have the impression that you are lacking a little success each time. Do you share this opinion?

You have to realize that to win a race at this level of motorsport, everything has to line up. GT is a hyper competitive category. The level is extremely high and you have to put everything together to be able to win races. We've seen it since the start of the season, ultimately there have been a lot of different winners. There are a lot of different teams on the podiums and it's true that we lack that little hint of success to be able to go for it. The goal is not just to get one, we want to win races between now and the end of the season. We know we can do it, we have the pace and we are working extremely hard to achieve it.

Is that the goal for this weekend?

Once again, we expect very, very tough competition. Here, the level is at least as high as in ELMS. For example, I expect to have a lot of competition with certain bronze pilots who come to ride here in WEC and which are extremely fast. Clearly, the task will not be easy. However, I think you have to set fairly high goals and aim as high as possible.

The fact of having completed the 4 Hours of Monza a week before, is that an advantage for you?

Yes, clearly. I think this will help us, especially since the track time is a little more limited in WEC. Afterwards, there is not a single driver in the world championship who does not know Monza like the back of his hand. It's a circuit where you have to know how to drive the old-fashioned way, but it's not extremely difficult to memorize it and find your bearings on it. For me, Monza remains a circuit where I have very good memories since it was here last year that I did my first race with the Iron Dames and they announced to me that I was going to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Let’s just say it’s an environment that puts me in a good mood.

How do you judge your progress over the past year?

I think I have progressed a lot in the qualifying round exercise which was a real challenge for me last year. I have improved a lot on this. In terms of race pace, there were clearly stages that were achieved. Afterwards, there is no secret, it's du work, analysis. It is trust that must be taken by me, but which must also be given by the team step by step. As well as blots of discussions with my teammates until late at night on how to manage the tires, how to manage our relays, etc. It's not just doing rounds without thinking about what we're doing. You have to be quite strategic in managing the brakes or tires. I have learned full things in a year. I am clearly a more complete pilot than when I arrived in the middle of last year.

From the outside, there seems to be a real complicity between Rahel (Frey), Michelle (Gatting) and you. Does this help you lift yourself up?

This is important in a line-up of endurance, especially one like ours. We still have three championships in the same season (WEC, ELMS, GT World challenge). We spend a lot of time together, we really try to support each other, to listen to others, to understand that everyone has their own personality, that we must respect each other's moods. We managed to find a good balance in the line-up, But also with our engineers, with the team, with the whole team traveling with us. Because we we are not not the only ones to do these 17 races this year. Here (Thursday) evening, we went running together with Doriane (Pin. Editor's note) who will join us for the 24 Hours of Spa. This is important because, on a weekend like WEC, each has their own job to do. From Free Practice 2, my job is to prepare for qualifying while that of my teammates is to prepare the settings de the car for the race and I have absolute trust in them for that. This trust is built.