Giorgio Maggi’s schedule took him to the Circuit Paul Ricard for the fifth race weekend of the European Le Mans series (24th – 28th August). The Swiss driver had a tough time as he returned to Le Castellet but never lost his fighting spirit. A technical problem ultimately deprived the Race Performance driver of any chance of a good result.

Giorgio, you fought tirelessly throughout your race despite an unpromising start. Why were you unable to finish?
Conditions were not easy, I have to say. My team-mate had a contact with a fellow competitor on only the second lap, and our car sustained some minor damage, so we had to take a short break for repairs prior to my turn at the wheel. That cost us a lot of time. There was another problem with fuel pressure just before the end of my stint, and I was forced to retire.

How did your stint go before you retired?
Well, that wasn’t really perfect either. I could feel vibration right from the start, and the car was pulling to the left. There was also a lot of understeer when taking right-hand bends, which made it very difficult to post fast lap times. I really piled on the pressure and kept pushing, but it was just hopeless.

How would you rate the weekend overall?
We headed to Le Castellet, feeling really fired up. Pre-season testing took place there in March, and I felt very comfortable on the track at the time. Unfortunately, we struggled with technical issues early in the week on Wednesday and lost a lot of practice time. I would have liked to have had the chance to post more laps, because I’ve never contested a race at this circuit before. We struggled to find the right setup for the track. Those difficulties continued, unfortunately, but we must now draw a line under the weekend and turn our full focus to the next race.

A major highlight of the season is scheduled for next month at Spa-Francorchamps (23rd – 25th September). Are you excited about it?
I can hardly wait! Spa is my absolute favourite circuit. We’ve not done any testing there, but a practice day will be held immediately before the meeting. I’ve already taken out a formula racing car around the circuit and hope that I can now draw on that experience in my LIGIER JS P3. Of course, the car is a lot heavier, but still, it has more downforce, and I’m dying to find out if we can take Eau Rouge at full chat – I certainly hope so!