IMSA: Pilet 'at home' racing for Porsche in the U.S.

Patrick Pilet has found a home racing with Porsche North America in IMSA. The 34-year-old Frenchman had a strong year in 2015, winning the GT Le Mans championship driving the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR for Porsche North America in his first full season in IMSA competition.

“I love this championship,” Pilet said. “It’s a lot of battles. The races are different lengths, from the Rolex 24 At Daytona to 100 minutes at Long Beach, so it’s something different on each race weekend. The tracks are really challenging. You get really close to the spectators, and you can really feel that the people love motorsports and the racecars. I always feel at home in the United States.”Now, Pilet is already looking forward to the 2016 WeatherTech Championship.“We had a strong finish to 2015, and I hope we can continue in this direction,” Pilet said. “I hope 2016 will have the same result.”Pilet and co-driver Nick Tandy won four of the final five races of the 2015 season, including consecutive victories at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Virginia International Raceway and Circuit of The Americas that brought Pilet to the points lead. Tandy missed two events earlier in the year to concentrate on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won overall. Joined by Richard Lietz, they had a stunning conclusion to the campaign by scoring the overall victory in the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.“To win the championship – and especially to win the race overall – was mega,” Pilet said. “It was an unexpected bonus for us. We didn’t work for the overall win, but late in the race, we said, ‘OK, we have to push to stay in front of the field. It was an incredible feeling to watch Nick cross the line.”Petit Le Mans also brought Pilet’s career racing in the U.S. full circle.“I started my career with Porsche in the United States at Petit Le Mans in 2008, running with Flying Lizard, with Joerg (Bergmeister) as a teammate. Now, a few years later, I’m back as a teammate with Joerg with Porsche at Road Atlanta.”Pilet’s next race in America will be the 2016 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, an event he won in 2014 in his first start with Porsche North America.“I really love that race,” Pilet said. “Many times in the past we have been leading the race – or close to leading – but we didn’t get in. Then last year, with the American program started with Porsche North America and CORE autosport, we arrived with not many laps, not much pre-race preparation before the season. Then we had success directly – although it was more difficult in the rest of the season. This year we had a really good car at Daytona, really good pace, but unfortunately we had contact between our two cars. It was just bad luck. Daytona is definitely a race I would like to win again, and we will try to do that in January.”

Source: IMSA