Endurance racer Franck Mailleux is looking forward to a positive start to the second half of the World Endurance Championship as teams and drivers head to the Interlagos circuit in Brazil for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, round five of the eight-race series. 

Franck is hoping for a turnaround in fortunes after a series of bad luck incidents have prevented him and the #23 Signatech-Nissan crew from capitalising on their performance potential so far this year. The Nissan-powered Oreca 03 has shown real promise in race trim with the team’s drivers, Franck, Jordan Tresson and Olivier Lombard all on podium pace, but ill-fortune has seen them fall short of their own abilities.

The Jose Carlos Pace circuit at Interlagos, a track famed for its inclusion on the Formula One world championship, will put the drivers under immense physical pressure, particularly on the left-hand side of their neck, as they navigate themselves around the 4.3km circuit in an anti-clockwise direction. Franck has been training hard to cope with the extra pressure and has benefitted from the support of French specialist simulator company, Ellip6, who have given Franck time in one of their state-of-the-art simulators before heading to Brazil.

The 6 Hours of Sao Paulo will be Franck’s first visit to the Interlagos circuit and it is a track which he looks forward to competing at. Franck has a good history of adapting himself quickly to new circuits, so he will be hoping to get his weekend off to a quick start – for himself, the team and his long-term personal partners Sojasun.

Franck Mailleux commented: “I am really looking forward to this weekend’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo. It is not very often we get to experience new circuits, so it will be interesting to explore the intricacies of the Interlagos circuit. Obviously, the track is well known to me from watching F1 races, and thanks to the work we carried out with Ellip6, I have been able to prepare myself well for the race weekend ahead. Physically, there will be extra strain on the left hand side of the neck, so I have done extra training to prepare myself as best as I can for that. I enjoy learning new circuits and I hope I can get up to speed quickly in practice. We have not had the best first half of the season but for me the slate is wiped clean for this second half of the season, so I am determined to get a decent result. We know the Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03 is a good car and we have a great driver line-up, so I hope our time has come.”