SPA 6 HOURS - TODAY, TOMORROW, TWO TOYOTAS

Good Sunday afternoon! Here it’s raining cats and dogs, but this doesn’t prevent me from talking about Spa 6 Hours, which is commonly considered as a “general test” for Le Mans 24 Hours. 

Toyota conquered its third overall win of the season; my biggest congratulations go to Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez, as well as to their teammates Séb Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley, who ended P2. There’s also some Italy on the podium: a red Ferrari LMP1 car driven by Alessandro Pierguidi, James Calado and Antonio “Jesus” Giovinazzi.

In the last hours of the races, Lou had a breathtaking duel with Tom Blomqvist, United Autosports’ ace, who started from the pole position. After a pit stop, Lou managed to get rid of him, thanks to the help of Rui Andrade and RobKub too, resulting in the LMP2 triumph of WRT.

Congratulations to all the boys and girls and see you at the next adventure!

4 HOURS OF BARCELONA - LOU WRITES HISTORY

Another weekend, another race for Lou. This time we’re in Montmelò, and the championship is ELMS.

This time our Swiss ace gained another satisfaction in his flourishing career, as he, along with his teammates Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood, ended the race P1 both in the whole classification and in their category. We can say, as he posted on his Insta profile, “history has been written”.

Salih Yoluc started with a bang, managing to be constantly close to Pro racers, while Charlie Eastwood reached P2. Then, Lou had some troubles with the black and orange flag, as there was a broken piece on the car; however, after the mandatory pitstop, he finally overtook his compatriot Neel Jani and VICTORY!!!

What can I say now? Good job, guys! 

See you for the next race!

6 HOURS OF PORTIMÃO - THE SEASON IS ON!

Good evening! The Portimão weekend started with a nasty crash of a Porsche who flew on the (luckily) empty grandstands of the circuit. I admit I was scared by this unusual accident, which (again) luckily had no consequences.

However, I’ll give you a little summary of the race, in which Lou and his crew started from P20 and ended P12 in the general classification as well as P3 in LMP2.

Toyota confirmed its superiority, just like in the past year’s season. Unfortunately, while Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa won the race, Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez had some troubles on their car and this prevented the Japanese manufacturer from monopolizing the first two steps on the podium. 

Unfortunately, Prema’s race was negatively influenced by the safety car; that’s why Lou succeeded in overtaking Daniil Kvyat in the last minutes. 

What can I say now? I wish good luck to all the WEC guys, hoping to meet them (again) in Monza next July!

2023 SEBRING 12H - 10TH IN THE HEAT

Good late afternoon, we’re back to the hot Floridian race tracks! This time we have the pleasure to race on the former military airport of Sebring, nowadays the track in which one of the most iconic races is held.

This time Lou and his teammates Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque had not the pleasure to climb the podium, as they ended P10, but there were many more surprises during the race.

The Cadillac driven by Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken started from the pole and won the race, but we shouldn’t think they had an absolute dominion. Instead, they went through some troubles caused by a crash with a LMP3 car; then, with 20 minutes to go, Filipe Albuquerque (Lou’s teammate) crashed into another driver involving several cars, giving way to the red and black Cadillac, which conquered the victory trophy.

From the bottom of my heart I send Lou and his teammates my biggest encouragements, waiting for the international season and their next adventures!

PREMA AND LOU: ETERNAL LOVE

2023 will be a busy year for Lou. During the last weeks, he announced he will race in ELMS for a brand-new Turkish team. He confirmed his partnership with Team Prema also for the WEC season as well as for Le Mans 24 Hours; along with him, Rui Andrade and RobKub are confirmed too. On his Instagram account, Lou said that his one with RobKub is “a long-term relationship”, a joke which tells a lot about Lou’s relationship with Team Prema and his teammates. They’re the perfect balance between youth and experience, Prema is a glorious team with many successes under its belt and I’m sure they will have great satisfactions this year too.

2023 DAYTONA 24 - A WINTER WEEKEND IN FLORIDA

We have to wait until March 5th for the Formula One season to begin, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t races in this period. For example, the last one was the Daytona weekend! 

Similarly to what happens with Indy 500, qualifications for this race were held on the previous weekend. Lou and his teammates Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley managed to qualify their Wayne Taylor Racing Acura to P3.

After a week of fun in the heat of Florida, going to theme parks and watching NBA matches, it was the time to play serious. And they did so. 

They managed to end the race in P2, with only 4 seconds of distance from the Meyer Shank Racing Acura driven by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Simon Pagenaud and Hello Castroneves. Congratulations to all the guys as well as to Acura for its 1-2!

But wait, don’t close the page: Lou, while chilling in Miami Beach, announced that he will spend 2023 ELMS season with Racing Team Turkey, his teammates will be Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc. Maybe I will meet him again in Monza, who knows 😉 

6 HOURS OF BAHRAIN - THE CURTAINS ARE DOWN

Good Sunday afternoon, dear readers! Yesterday, in the heat of the night of Bahrain, the 2022 FIA WEC season came to a close, crowning Séb Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa as World Champions. I’m really happy about these guys I met in Monza back in June, and I send them my congratulations!

Lou and his mates RobKub and Lorenzo, thanks to their perfect strategy, even managed to keep their Prema-branded Oreca in the “podium zone”, but in the very last minutes, unfortunately, they ended up to P5. However, I congratulate them for their amazing season as well for their kindness when I met them in Monza.

So, what will Lou do next year? I hope to discover it 😉 I’m sure he will give all his efforts to do his best, as he always did and always will do!