A benchmark team in the Ultimate Cup European Series, ANS Motorsport has yet to taste the joys of an overall podium finish in 2024. In the first four meetings, bad luck and the facts of the race have often worked against them. Team manager Perrine Bouche is confident of her team's ability to remedy this.
How do you view the current season?
We've been loyal to the championship since the very beginning. Every year, we like to come back with several cars. We love endurance racing and prototypes, everything that the category encompasses. We were delighted to discover new tracks like Portimão. The 6-hour format was also a first, and we loved it. Mugello has a great reputation and we're not necessarily used to going there.
The European Endurance Prototype Cup grid has been considerably strengthened. As a team that has been present from the outset, how do you assess this development?
It's a great reward for the championship, which is working hard to make progress. It's great to see new competitors arriving. We're being pulled and pulled upwards.
In the N°84 LMP3 car, Julien Lemoine is partnered by Paul Trojani. Trojani will be stepping down from single-seater racing after his title in 2023. How is his adaptation going?
We'd had the opportunity to let him try out a Norma CN before. It went really well. There are some changes in terms of feel and driving, but Paul acclimatized very quickly. He proved that he's very comfortable with the car.
Did you feel any change around Karen Gaillard after she joined the Iron Dames program?
Karen hasn't changed a bit! She's the same as before, she does everything to the hilt. She's a very committed person who's always trying to understand everything so she can progress. Iron Dames is a fine achievement, and she deserves it.
Looking at your results, you always seem to be close to the overall podium in NP02, without unfortunately ever having climbed on it in 2024. At Mugello, the N°72 finished third in the second half of the race. What are you missing to reach the top-3?
A bit of luck! For the N°72, we have a very good crew. Mathis Poulet is very experienced in the Ultimate Cup. Erwin Creed is a Bronze driver with a great speed record. Philippe Mondolot has a great knowledge of protos. Unfortunately, since the start of the year, they've often been crashed into or had problems that have cost them running time. It's a bit the same for the N°71 of Karen (Gaillard), Marc (Faggionato) and Iko (Segret). They're very committed, but there's always a little gravel that slips through the cracks. We haven't achieved anything, but we're not far off!
The N°73 of Frédéric Croullet and Rodolphe Rosati is battling for the NP02 Ultimate title (2nd, 14 points behind the leaders). We imagine that winning the category is also a goal!
Of course, we're going to work hard to win it. Frédéric has been here for years, winning in CN with Mathys Jaubert. We're going to do everything we can to make sure they win.
How will you approach the last two meetings?
We're going to prepare them in advance so that we can give our best. We're going to put all our energy into coaching our drivers and tuning our cars, so that we can finally get on the podium.