TCR – SLR with Gilvert and Clairet

The month of May is busy for Sébastien Loeb Racing! Alongside its commitments in the World Touring Car Championship, in Porsche Carrera Cup France and Rally, the Alsatian team will compete in three races with two 308 Racing Cups entrusted by Peugeot Sport. The first of these three stages will take place this weekend in Spa, with Grégory Guilvert and Jimmy Clairet, as part of the TCR International Series.

After a studious off-season, the Peugeot 308 Racing Cup is preparing to complete three events in four weeks. And it is in the colors of Sébastien Loeb Racing that she will make this journey, which will begin with the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, in the TCR International Series (May 5 to 7) and will continue on the legendary Nordschleife, in VLN (13 and May 14) then in ETCC (May 26 to 28). Two demanding tracks which will be synonymous with gaining experience which will be enriching to say the least, both for the team and for the Peugeot Sport engineers.

  
With the 308-horsepower Lioness, the Alsatian team will take its first steps in three new championships over the coming weeks. “It is a pride and a responsibility for Sébastien Loeb Racing to start the 308 Racing Cup in both TCR, VLN and ETCC,” explains Franck Tiné, sports director. “We are always looking for new horizons and we have the opportunity to discover three in less than a month. These races will allow us to take the measure of these series and to gauge ourselves against the usual peloton. The team is logically ambitious and we always aim for the best performance, but there are new parameters to understand. We will therefore have to be efficient and extract as much information as possible for the future.

“We are going to race for the first time with the 308 Racing Cup. In this learning, we can count, thanks to Peugeot Sport, on the experience of Grégory Guilvert. He participated in the development of the car and we know his qualities having competed with him in GT. As for Jimmy Clairet, he embodies a philosophy that we appreciate within the team: he is a young, serious, motivated and fast driver. We have a strong team that will allow us to work well”, adds Franck Tiné.

An experienced man, accustomed to Peugeot Sport promotion formulas where he won the THP Spider Cup in 2009, Grégory Guilvert knows the 308 Racing Cup well. Test driver for the Lion firm for several years – he participated in the development of the RCZ Racing Cup and the 208 T16 Pikes Peak – he has already played aboard the 308 Racing Cup, among others during its presentation in October on the Circuit Paul Ricard, or during winter testing and during the first race in Spain.

“Having participated in the birth of the 308 Racing Cup as a test driver, it is with a certain emotion that I will take part in this race”, admits Grégory Guilvert. “These are new stages in the car development process, which should allow us to show pure performance and reliability according to the tests. I approach this meeting with both great humility and a lot of motivation. We are getting to the heart of the matter with a unique circuit and a very tough championship, but I am keen to show the qualities of the 308 Racing Cup. I am happy to compete again with a Peugeot and to race for the first time with Sébastien Loeb Racing. I'm going to meet some people and discover a new team. It's always interesting. »

At a good school through Team Clairet Sport, Jimmy Clairet made his competitive debut in 2013 in the Peugeot 208 Racing Cup as part of the Rencontres Peugeot Sport, finishing vice-champion in 2014 behind his brother Teddy. He then moved to the Clio Cup, with one victory and three podiums last season. At 25, he is ready for a new experience.

“Having started racing with the 208 Racing Cup, I am delighted to have the opportunity to drive its big sister, the 308 Racing Cup,” confides Jimmy. “Racing for Sébastien Loeb Racing with a car entrusted by Peugeot Sport is prestigious. The team is very professional, accustomed to the highest level, and the car is superb. I can't wait to be behind the wheel at a sensational circuit like Spa, which I know but which we know how demanding it is. You will have to adapt quickly. The first goal is to benchmark myself against the competition, I will give my best with the aim of obtaining a good result. »

The third round of the TCR International Series will consist of two thirty-minute practice sessions, a two-part qualifying session (1-minute Q20, 2-minute Q10) and two thirty-minute races.

The drivers who will defend the colors of Sébastien Loeb Racing during the following races will be announced soon. For the ETCC race, one of the two 308 Racing Cups will be entrusted to the leader of the Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup after the Pau meeting (May 14-15).