Stephen Kilbey caught up with Alex Brundle on the eve of the young Briton’s return to the track.
After an almost season-long hiatus from the cockpit with an abdominal muscular illness, Alex Brundle is back and due to start racing again. The 25-year-old Brit has signed to compete at the penultimate round of the FIA WEC in Shanghai China, with current Asian Le Mans Series champions Pegasus Racing.
So with his return coming up this weekend, what better time to have a catch up?
So Alex, first things first, how are you feeling right now?
“Well I have to say that I feel pretty much 100%, absolutely fine. When I fell ill, I promised myself that I wouldn’t start racing again until I felt totally ready. It’s been a long process, but I think I’m there and ready to jump straight back in.
“The hardest thing has been fitness, and getting back to where I need to be to race, but on the racing side I’m confident, I’ve done sim work, and that’s helped a lot.”
And how did this deal with Pegasus come about?
“I shared a couple of garages with David Cheng during my exploits with Onroak and Ligier, and he’s very much the team boss now. I then spotted that they needed a third driver for the race, so I gave him a call and they were all happy to have me in the car. It was initiative really, led by me. I’m really thankful that they gave me the opportunity to get back into a WEC race.”
What’s the team’s thoughts ahead of the race at Shanghai, there’s no reason why they can’t be competitive and come away with a decent result?
“Well, the Morgan is a proven chassis isn’t it? It’s been around a while now, and it misses a bit of downforce compared to the coupé cars, if anything it’s a couple of development steps behind now, but It’ll be rock solid with a good engine in the back of it.
“We’ll be on Michelin tyres though, so that I’ll have to get a read on, I don’t wanna say that we’ll be far behind the Dunlops, but I just don’t know. The Dunlop tyre has had a whole lot of development behind it, and I know that because I’ve been involved in some of it. But I’m sure the guys at Michelin are just as clever, and have produced a tyre worthy of competing in the series.
“Let’s not forget the lineup we have though too, as Ho Pin (Tung) and David (Cheng) are very sensible drivers, so there’s no reason why we can’t pick up a good result. Jumping into a series towards the end is difficult because everyone else is up and running but I’ve driven a lot of LMP2 cars now, so I doubt it’ll be much of an issue.”
What do you think of the Shanghai circuit? It’s quite technical, and tough to drive no?
“It’s very tricky, yeah, there’s a lot of long medium-speed corners. You have to balance the car mid-corner, specifically at Turn 1 and the ‘snails’ that head down onto the back straight. The surface is pretty abrasive too, tough on the left-front tyres, you tend to lean a lot on it so it can be an issue.
“It is a good track though, it’s one I really enjoy driving. The long back straight especially is great and could play into our hands with the Morgan and it’s straight line speed.”
I imagine that physically a demanding track too, how do you find it?
“You’d think it would be a physical track, but it really isn’t that bad. I think it’s because you spend so much of the lap going in a straight line so you have time to rest on the back and pit straight so your body has time to get prepared. The longer corners are also not at that high of a speed, for example, when you go to Turkey or CotA, it’s a different story.
“It’s not too bad in summary.”
You’ve been in the booth at Radio Le Mans this year, how’s that been?
“I’ve really enjoyed it actually, getting to work with a variety of RLM’s teams. I can see how I’ve improved recently, once you relax into it it’s great.
“I must say that It’s been useful though, watching a race with a commentator’s eye. I’ve learn’t so much about racing while doing that, because usually I’m only focused on one car or class, but when it comes to commentating I have to look at the bigger picture. It is hard to remember what happened straight after though, Post-Race Tech can be a challenge!
“It’s also been nice to get feedback that my work with them has been good, I’m glad I’ve been able to provide insight.”
Stephen Kilbey
