Fabien Lavergne: “Getting my bearings before the 24 hours of Spa”

Champion ELMS in GTE in 2019, Fabien Lavergne shared his 2020 season between FFSAGT at CD Sport and Michelin Le Mans Cup in LM P3, with the title of Silver vice-champion in the GT4 series.

It's a step above that we found the Frenchman last weekend in Misano, with the opportunity to join Christopher Mies, a great GT3 regular, within the Attempto Racing team. The Frenchman spoke after the two Italian rounds.

© DPPI / M. de Mattia

How did this opportunity arise?

The link was made by my engineer in LM P3 in ELMS who was on Tech1's Lexus. We bonded and when there was a need for a pilot, he pushed for it to be me.

Despite some technical problems, what do you remember most about this weekend?

The problem is that I didn't have a lot of driving before Misano. It was a discovery of the car and the circuit. I wasn't able to change tires before qualifying, so it was a bit difficult to get the most out of the package.

Unfortunately, we experienced a slight lack of engine performance this weekend. We were pretty good in sectors 1 and 3, but less so in 2. Race 1 started well and I was able to move up to 15th place after two laps.

But a water pipe burst and that finished off an engine that was already a little tired. On Sunday, we had to start from the pits with a replacement engine, but less efficient. We did what we could to get back into the race, but we were lacking.

I had fun in the car, and the idea was really to get my bearings before the 24 Hours of Spa.

How do you judge the level of GT World Challenge Europe?

I wasn't surprised by the peloton. I expected this. These are very intense races. The advantage I had was that I already had experience with Pirelli tires with the FFSA GT season. In the end, it was closer to driving a big GT4 than to GTE in ELMS.

I was no longer able to apply things I had learned in GT4 last year. The GTE is different to drive, a little more finesse. There was also the difference in cars between the Audi and the Ferrari. But I was still quite quickly in Christopher Mies' tempo, so that's a very positive point.

The 24 Hours of Spa are looming. What is your plan until the end of the month?

I have a fairly efficient home simulator equipment, so I will be working quite a bit on Assetto Corsa Competizione. What I did before Misano and in two runs, I was on pace. Of course, there will also be the study of data from previous years.

The advantage at Attempto Racing is to have a factory car, and we will be able to benefit from Audi data. Which is a significant advantage. Already at the Test Day, the cars seemed to perform well. We aim to aim for something in the Silver Cup (with Alex Aka and Dennis Marschall), why not a podium.