Pipo Derani: « There will be a lot of preparation before Silverstone »

Pipo Derani spoke to the site Motorsport, the Brazilian driver discussed the preseason program: « We managed to set up a good program during the prologue tests despite limited track time last week. We tested several technical possibilities during the laps we completed and obtained useful feedback, which means we are confident for the first WEC race at Silverstone. »

He gives the reasons for the limited track time by his team G-Drive Racing: « The main reason for our limited time on the track is that we have a confirmed strategy for our engine, which means we will have a new power unit for Le Mans. We did not take part in the first two sessions because of the strong wind and the fact that we didn’t want to put too many kilometers on the engine. »

Derani did very little running, but his race pace was impressive, logging a time of 1:48.607 during the night session on the first day. « It was very difficult to see the comparison between our Ligier and the new ORECA for example, but at the end of the day we were not there to be the fastest. We were there to see what we need to analyze for Silverstone, and in the end, we believe we have a very good pace and we know that the potential is there. »

He also talks about the atmosphere within the team: « The truly enjoyable aspect of these tests was that the three of us, Gustavo (Yacaman), Ricardo (Gonzalez), and I, have continued to build our relationship together, and there is a good atmosphere in the team. It was Gustavo’s first time on this circuit, and he had only done a few laps on used tires before using new Dunlop tires that we will be using this year. He really drove well and set the best time of the session on Sunday, but as I said at that point, it’s really not worth analyzing the times too closely. »

Now, Derani and the whole team will analyze the data while G-Drive Racing Ligier Nissan prepares in France: « I will go to the team’s headquarters in Le Mans and we will analyze all the data from these tests. There will be a lot of preparation before Silverstone, but the G-Drive team and everyone at Oak Racing and Onroak are very impressive and meticulous in their details. We will make sure we are ready to do our best, not only for Silverstone but for the entire WEC season. »