The 2015 ELMS LM P3 champions Sir Chris Hoy and Charlie Robertson have claimed their prize drive in an LMP2 test at Estoril with the ELMS LMP2 Championship winning team and car, the Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan LM P2 car their ‘ride for the day.
After battling through travel chaos caused by fog in the UK, Hoy made it to the Estoril track on Monday just in the nick of time for his test.
Fresh from winning the 2015 LM P2 title just two weeks ago, Greaves Motorsport gave Hoy his first LM P2 run during which he completed over 40 laps of the Estoril circuit.
Robertson took his turn on Tuesday following which both drivers were assessed by the Greaves engineers on whether or not they are ready to progress to the faster category.
Hoy has impressed since he made the switch from Olympic cycling hero to racing driver, a move made possible by Nissan and its innovative GT Academy programme, which has provided training and support for Hoy during the transition. As part of his relationship with Nissan, Chris is also the head ambassador in the brand’s partnership with the British Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association.
This test marks an important step along Hoy’s road to Le Mans. He got his first taste of the mighty La Sarthe circuit in June when he took part in the Le Mans Test Day, but to compete in the main race he needs to step up to the LM P2 category.
“I’ve learnt so much from racing in the Ginetta-Nissan LM P3 car this year,” said Hoy.
“Nissan’s driver development programme has been a proven success and that, coupled with everything I have learnt from Charlie (Robertson) and the Ginetta guys, has made sure I am ready to take the next step. The Gibson-Nissan is an incredible car. I immediately felt comfortable and was excited to find that the car does exactly what you ask it to do and really encourages you to use the downforce it delivers. It was wet today but even though the track was slippery I had lots of grip. I would love to race that car at Le Mans – in fact I want to get back in it straight away. The test was worth every moment of the journey to get here!”
Greaves Motorsport has a long and successful history with Nissan NISMO, as it has been the team of choice for the Le Mans debuts of GT Academy winners. Team boss Jacob Greaves was at Estoril to witness Hoy’s first LM P2 test.
“I was impressed with Chris,” said Greaves. “He arrived behind schedule but immediately focused on the job he had to do. His lap times were consistent despite the bad weather and he impressed our engineer with his driving. We ran him all the way through until darkness fell and it was good to see that the change in light didn’t faze him at all. He is driving extremely well.
“I would have no concerns about Charlie being competitive in LMP2 next year”, said Greaves, “He is a quality driver and his performance in the test and his feedback was very good – he’s a very mature driver in the car and chipped away all day, improving his times by three or four tenths every lap.
“Initially, Charlie ran on a damp track on intermediate tyres and he instantly got his times down. He did a really good job and his times were equivalent to LMP2 in qualifying at Estoril at the final round of the season, when the conditions were very similar.”
Greaves added: “At the end of the day it dried out and he had a short five lap run on slicks, a big jump in grip but we could see the confidence which was building and the improvements in pace. More and more time would have come if Charlie had been able to have a few more laps. It shows LMP3 is a good proving ground for LMP2, Charlie really did do a great job.”
The Scottish teenager, who is targeting graduation into LMP2 in 2016 after a sparkling maiden season in sportscars this year on his way to LMP3 championship glory and the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title with Team LNT in a Ginetta-Nissan, thoroughly enjoyed the test run with Greaves and was left wanting much, much more.
“The day was absolutely amazing”, commented the Investigo and Curo-sponsored racer, “We ran on inters to begin but you can’t believe the grip which is available, there’s so much grip with the LMP2 inters and the first 20 laps were amazing.
“It’s such a cool car, the brakes are the biggest difference between P3 and P2 and you can push the braking zones more and more. While the top end isn’t too different between the two classes, the corner speeds are huge in P2 and the ability is there to push much more than you think. I had five laps in the dry at the end and that gave me a great insight, it’s like a whole other world on slicks.”
Charlie continued: “I’m over the moon with how the test went and the team was a dream to work with. I did push the boundaries a bit more in the final run and I feel I did a good job, hopefully I made a good impression!”
