Franck, a positive conclusion to your second season in the Le Mans Series...
“Absolutely. I was very happy to finish this season with a solid result at Silverstone, even if we could not repeat our LMP1 podium results from Portugal and Hungary. It was actually quite a challenging weekend because of the weather and our lack of practice time, so to finish in the top six was good for us and I was very satisfied with my personal performance. We were able to secure enough points to finish second in the team’s championship and fourth in the drivers’ championship, in both cases as the highest placed petrol car. That, for my second year in the series, is a great achievement.”

Did you expect to do so well?
“I knew that we had a strong potential with the fantastic Aston Martin that won last year’s title, but we needed a bit of time to gel the whole package together. We also had to work hard with Dunlop, which were also new to the Aston Martin Lola chassis, to develop the optimum tyres. I made immediate positive progress at the pre-season tests in Paul Ricard and Magny-Cours, but I still needed to experience the full race weekend scenario at Paul Ricard to get fully up to speed with everything.”

When were you fully confident in the package?
“By the time we went to Le Mans for the 24 Hours race, I was confident in our ability to mount a serious challenge for the top results. In fact, Le Mans was a real breakthrough in terms of on-track performance. We were making steady progress throughout the night and my own pace was very competitive. Then came the real lowlight of the season when we were forced to retire in the final third of the race. It was a big blow to the whole team, but we picked ourselves up and came back strongly in Portugal.”

What were your highs and lows of the season?
“Becoming an official driver for Aston Martin Racing was a high point before the season began. Then I think the outright podium in Portugal was the real highlight of the season itself. Coming from Le Mans - which was definitely the biggest disappointment - to fight for the overall top three at Algarve was really positive.  And then we achieved an LMP1 podium in the Hungary race as well! It has been my second season with Signature and the team has just performed so professionally, these podium results were a justified reward for them as much as for me. The support of the team, Aston Martin, Dunlop, and also from my own partners Sojasun, has been tremendous. Sojasun has supported me for many years and I am thankful to have repaid their loyalty with some podium results this season. It’s definitely been the highlight of my career so far and I certainly feel that endurance racing is the category for me.”

For more information about Franck Mailleux, please visit www.franckmailleux.com or www.quadrasports.com