Although there has been a change to the team’s name with some literal ‘New Blood’ attached to the Morand Racing moniker in 2014, much consistency has been retained for the season ahead in ELMS for the compact Swiss team.
The familiar Dunlop shod Morgan-Judd package has been retained and so too have the services of immensely talented former Peugeot and Aston Martin works driver, Christian Klien. The ‘transfusion’ for the team based in Marly, Switzerland comes courtesy of reigning LMPC ELMS champion Gary Hirsch and experienced GT campaigner, Romain Brandela.
Sam Smith caught up with Christian Klien after an impressive few days at Paul Ricard this week.
Christian, how have the two days at Ricard gone for you and the New Blood by Morand Racing team?
“So far, so good. We are very pleased with the way things have gone over the last two days here. The car feels great.
“Yesterday (Tuesday) we were fastest in the morning and then second in the afternoon session. Then this morning (Wednesday) we were fastest again. We are a small team and the dynamic and structure is of a small private team which is of course a big contrast to Peugeot for me. This though is often good for the driver because you can work efficiently and have more of a say in how things are run and how you can progress quicker. There is little we can do development-wise on the LMP2 Morgan, so you really concentrate on set-up and working with the engineering team. It is a nice way to go racing, as you have a clear path to going the quickest you possibly can.”
You always seem to enjoy working with this team?
“Very much so. Last year I did Paul Ricard and Hungary with Morand, finishing second with Natascha (Gachnang) here at Ricard. I know the car and I like LMP2. To me they handle like slightly more powerful F3 cars, but are much more exciting to drive. The corner speed is actually very similar to the LMP1 cars I have driven before. The Morgan is fun to drive and also nice to work on with an engineer.”
What do you know about your team mates for 2014?
“Gary (Hirsch) and Romain (Brandela) are new to the team and also to me. Gary raced LMPC cars last year and seemed to do a good job winning the title. Romain did Le Mans last year (with the DKR Engineering Lola-Judd in LMP2) but generally he is more used to GT’s, so it will take him a little longer to get up to speed. We will form a strong team this season.”
Do you view 2014 as putting yourself back in the shop window for manufacturers?
“Yes, yes I do. The ELMS is a very good and competitive championship this year with some solid LMP2 cars and teams in it; so it will be important to do well, win races and hopefully the title. It will be important to get a good name in this series. For me it is clearly a target to race with a manufacturer again. I really enjoy endurance racing and am encouraged to see more and more manufacturers coming in to this form of the sport.”
You came from an F3/F1 background. How do you view the recent surge of single-seater talent coming in to endurance racing?
“Younger guys certainly are coming in to endurance racing more and more now. The levels are very high, certainly as high from a racing point of view as GP2, although of course they are very different disciplines. When a driver gets to GP2 95% of them get stuck and probably spend a lot of money doing three or four seasons with very little chance of getting to F1. With hardly any testing in F1 what are they to do? Sit in a simulator all day? You are much better off getting race experience in a multi-class series like ELMS that is hugely competitive.”
Any plans for more running before Silverstone?
“No. This is the last test and we are ready for Silverstone. We did two days at Magny Cours last month which went well. So now we go racing after a long winter and we cannot wait for Easter!”
