This year will be Emmanuel Collard’s 22nd driving at Le Mans, competing with AF Corse in a 458 Italia. During that time, the Frenchman has driven 17 different cars, with 12 teams across nine classes. His accolades include two class wins, and three further podiums, including finishing second overall back in 2005 driving for the storied Pescarolo Sport team.
What is it that keeps Collard in the sport? Which car is best to drive? Who is his Le Mans hero? And what doesn’t he like about the big race?
To find out, DSC sat down at length with Collard at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this year over a coffee, for a debrief on his storied and fruitful career to this point:
For someone who is such an advocate for the Le Mans 24 Hours, it may come as a surprise to many that prior to competing at the race for the first time, he didn’t see it as a marquee event.
“It’s so special to me now because when I started I didn’t know about the race,” Collard admitted. “I didn’t watch it because when I was racing in Porsche SuperCup. I got the deal with Larbre and Jack Leconte asked me if I wanted to go in a GT2 car. I decided to go there, and that was my first experience.
“When I got behind the wheel, I was really shocked. The track is amazing. There’s no other track like it anywhere in the world. There’s long straights, high speed corners, it’s completely different from what I had driven on before.”
The first year in Larbre’s Porsche 911 GT2 Evo didn’t go to plan. Collard, along with Dominique Dupny and Stéphane Ortelli, managed just 82 laps before retiring.
“It didn’t stop me wanting to come back, but even with the opportunity, I didn’t think I would do it for over 20 years. It’s become the race I always want to do and I always had good seats available to drive in.
“Looking back, I mean, I was driving with Porsche in 1997 and from then I always wanted to keep racing there.”
After scoring the initial drive with Porsche, Collard then quickly moved on to a string of factory drives for Toyota and Cadillac, becoming a part of Toyota’s GT-One programme.
“I have good memories of driving for Porsche, Cadillac and Toyota,” he said in reflection. “As drivers we had pressure but not especially from them. I put pressure on myself because I wanted to do a good job.”
“The ambience with all of them was really good.”
It’s rare to hear much negativity surrounding the Toyota GT-One. It was loved by many and had so much promise, but ultimatley failed to deliver the Japanese marque a win during its two years of competition. It left Collard bitterly disappointed.
“The only factory team that was tough to drive for was Toyota,” he revealed, “because they came only for two years and then stopped. The team compared to Porsche had just too many people involved. It was a big budget and the team was huge, there were more than 100 people at the race, it was too much.”
“It’s hard in that position as a driver, because you don’t get to know everyone when there are too many people. I prefer when it’s a smaller team, and everybody talks to you. With Porsche though it was perfect. Back in ’97 it was a factory team, but not on the same level as it is now.”
Despite that, Collard considers the GT-One the best out of the wide selection of cars he’s driven.
The Toyota was a really good car. Everything was perfect inside the cockpit.
“It was such a good car to drive, but I just can’t believe I didn’t get any results from the two years. We did a 30-hour test, five times – 30 hours! No problems at all, NOTHING. We ran and ran and ran, and we came to the race and had problems, both years.”
In both attempts with Toyota, he failed to finish. By 1999, aside from finishing second in LMP1 for La Fillère Elf, his record was tainted with four DNF’s in his first five attempts. It didn’t stop him from coming back year on year though.
Being part of such a huge sporting event time and again means that Collard is not only used to it, but through his experience he can also appreciate it with less pressure.
There are few who have had that chance driven in just about every type of car at the race. It doesn’t matter that nowadays Collard races in GTE Am, he still enjoys it as much.
“I have less pressure now, which I love. When you’re racing for a factory, there’s so much pressure because, for them, it’s such a big event. It’s difficult to deal with.
“In fact even if I’m racing a GT car, I enjoy it more than being in a P1 car sometimes,” he continued. “All you want is the result. If you fight for 24 hours, it’s easy to get motivated, and I don’t care if I’m in a GT car or a prototype, it’s all about your chance of winning.
“I love driving both GT and LMP around the circuit, especially around the Porsche Curves. That’s my favourite part of the circuit.
“Whatever you drive through there, it’s not as different as you’d think. The speed is different but the approach you have to change in a GT car is your braking. You have more weight and less downforce, so it’s more difficult in a GT car.
“In a prototype it’s more relaxed. First, you don’t have to look in your mirrors, you just focus in front and the car is easier and quicker to drive. Physically it’s more for the neck, but that’s it.
“Everybody think’s the P1 car is the most difficult because it’s quicker, but everything is better on the car.”
After 21 starts, Collard naturally has his gripes with the race, which he was quick to point out.
“I love Le Mans, but the week is too long,” he explained. “The parade, it goes on for hours, it’s too much. There’s always something to do, and you never relax. You don’t sleep properly. On Friday night you are so tired and nervous it gets hard.”
Nevertheless, he still loves Le Mans, and he has no plans of stopping just yet. A big part of that is Henri Pescarolo, and the influence the legendary Frenchman had on him. But that’s for Part 2 of this feature.
But before Collard delved into the time he spent with Henri, he was keen to share the rituals he’s developed over the years, as well as some other special memories.
“I’m not the guy who doesn’t sleep during the race. A lot of guys try to stay awake, but every time I get out, I take a shower, have a massage, eat something, and go to sleep. Every stint.
There’s always something to do, and you never relax. You don’t sleep properly. On Friday night you are so tired and nervous it gets hard.
“I don’t get a lot of sleep, of course, but at least a few hours, just to keep fresh and appreciate the best parts of the event.
“I love the night. In the morning, driving in the low temperatures is also good because it’s really fresh and the lap times are good because of the soft tyres.
“Then there’s standing atop the podium, which I was so happy to have done with the Porsche RS Spyder. It’s special, and with all the people it’s very impressive.
“The Spyder, under braking, was like a Formula One car. You could brake so late it was ridiculous. The weight distribution was perfect.
“With a bigger engine, the car would have won the race.
“Years like 2009 have made Le Mans the highlight of the year for me,” he concluded. “Even now. I’ve only just started to realise just how long I’ve been doing it.
I don’t want to end up on my last legs and still racing.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do when I stop. What I like is what I’m doing with François (Perrodo). I like mentoring people, coaching gentlemen or young drivers. To be a team manager? I don’t think so…
“I like to give advice to people. I’ve known François for five years and he was far off the pace, and now look at how far he has come? I’m really pleased.”
“What I want is to race again next year, but I want to be sure that I am a good driver. I don’t want to end up on my last legs and still racing. In the future, I won’t do P1 again, but P2 looks good with a good car and a good team.
“I’d love to race with Henri once more, and I’ll get to that in a minute.”
