Vincent Abril: “A true human adventure”

24 hour races, Vincent Abril knows well having already competed several times in the double round of the clock at Spa in the Blancpain GT Series, with Bentley Team M-Sport, his former team before his move to AKKA-ASP during the winter.

But this time, it's 24 Hours of Le Mans that the Gard pilot attacks, joining the Porsche 911 RSR n°78 – Proton Competition, shared with the Monegasques Philippe and Louis Prette. Contacted by the father-son duo, Abril naturally accepted the adventure, knowing Louis outside the context of motorsport.

“We were at school together with Louis, without being in the same class, Abril told us shortly before the start of free practice. As soon as they decided to start this project, they called me. I was very happy, because I had the right to do it, (which was not the case with Bentley). It was hard to refuse given the conditions and the real human adventure. »

Author of his first laps during the Test Day at the beginning of the month, the resident of Jérôme Policand's structure in GT3, was able to tackle the 13,626 km of the great Le Mans circuit and discover its specificities.

“I came back from Paul Ricard in Blancpain, and I hadn't slept much, not to mention the disappointment of the result (abandonment with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°88 shared with Raffaele Marciello and Michael Meadows), continues Abril.

I wanted to be very humble when I arrived, without telling myself that it had to work absolutely from the start. The car was really good from the start, and after two laps I was on the right pace. I was a little surprised, but Porsche did a great job with the car.

Overall, the track is not easy because we often change pace. There are moments when nothing happens, and suddenly things start happening. It’s hard to stay focused and put everything together. The trickiest part in my opinion remains Arnage.

Braking the three chicanes requires time to adjust. The Porsche corners and the Ford chicane pass very quickly, and are technical. There are also the different surfaces of the route.

The difficulty in GTE Am is to do a little fewer laps than in a 100% Pro crew, but that is also the challenge. You have to adapt quickly. Blancpain helps me at this level, particularly with tire management. »

A few moments before starting the first official runs of the week in free practice, Vincent Abril confides that he has maintained his concentration on the event, the same that had animated him during the Test Day.

“It’s as if I had never left this state of mind,” says the Frenchman. There’s no point getting excited on Wednesday and Thursday. If you can understand this, you are more relaxed for the race. I try to explain this to my teammates. You have to take things one after the other. »