DKR, the smallest team in the paddock: “I take a certain pride in it” confides Kendy Janclaes

The image is hackneyed but nevertheless realistic: in the Le Mans paddock, the tiny structure of DKR looks like David against the Goliath deployed by the automobile giants on a global level. A facade of a maximum of 4 meters wide, barely recognizable when one is impressed by the gigantism of the garages Porsche, Toyota ou Peugeot .

Once you have spotted the narrow corridor that leads to the stand, you enter another world, another era. Here, no 2,10 m guard with an earpiece to check if you have the right pass.

" Everyone is welcome ", says Kendy Janclaes, the boss of the DKR team. “I like to share my passion for lex 24 Hours of Le Mans. I find it a shame that the big teams don't do it. »

No doubt the beautiful story woven between Kendy Janclaes and the double clock tower in Sarthoise is at the origin of this philosophy from another age. “I never imagined finding myself at the head of a team competing in these 24 hours”, evokes our interlocutor. “When I discovered the event in 2001 or 2002, I was a mechanic, I was changing the wheels on a Dome. » And yet, it is running, this Lilliputian team which has two third places in the Pro-Am category in LMP2.

“In total, we have around a dozen mechanics and engineers to take care of our car. We must add eight volunteers to take care of catering, transporting tires and a multitude of small tasks. My whole immediate family is there: parents, in-laws, sister, brother-in-law. There is no longer a cat in Gemmenich, my native village. They are all at Le Mans. And in addition to family, I can also count on Luc Marchand, a restaurateur from my region. He is my best press officer, my marketing director. At the beginning of the week and on Friday, he participated, with a friend, in making Brussels waffles. Nathalie Verbist and he had set up a small table just in front of the stands. They offered dozens of waffles to spectators who savored the legendary Belgian sense of hospitality. »

We are far, in fact, from the state of mind of the structures which represent automobile manufacturers.

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