Jérôme Policand: “From a small series, we've reached the peak of endurance racing”
Before this weekend's 6 Hours of Fuji, the Akkodis ASP team manager reflects on the Lexus RC F GT3-running French team’s FIA WEC debut season.
Akkodis ASP will be on home turf this weekend at the 6 Hours of Fuji, round 7 of the 2024 FIA WEC campaign. “Fuji is the highlight of the year for our manufacturer, and we're determined to deliver a performance there," says Akkodis ASP founder and team manager Jérôme Policand to fiawec.com. “We're bound to feel watched and backed as well.”
Indeed, the serial-winning team in GT championships, both in France and abroad, is racing under the Lexus banner in FIA WEC’s brand-new LMGT3 category. “For us, it was a huge opportunity to be elected, knowing that only nine teams are eligible,” Jérôme points out. “To receive recognition at this level, furthermore in a world championship we'd been hoping to join since the announcement of the arrival of LMGT3, acted as a springboard for us.”
Akkodis ASP, which previously ran Mercedes-AMG GT3s in GT series, eventually signed a partnership agreement with the Toyota group last October. “We only had one shot at this. We had to find a solution to be there and submit a solid and professional project from the first year”, Jérôme explains. The reigning Hypercar world champion Japanese manufacturer is also involved in the GT3 category via its luxury division, Lexus, with the RC F GT3. As luck would have it, for Jérôme and Akkodis ASP.
“I'm good friends with Olivier Panis. We're both from Grenoble and we started karting when we were 12. One of our joint sponsors funded a Lexus RC F GT3. We got the car back, thinking we'd refurbish it in our spare time and turn it into a beautiful classic car. But now, we were delighted to find it. It had been in our workshop under a sheet for two years. We threw ourselves at it!”
“What we did well before, we now have to do it very well”
This marked the start of a new race, against the clock, for Akkodis ASP. The squad had just a few months to get up to speed for the season-opening Qatar Airways Qatar 1812 km. Among WEC's new LMGT3 field, the Lexus RC F GT3 is the “oldest” entry, having made its competitive debut back in 2017. “To homologate the car, we had to fit it within the FIA-mandated aerodynamic window,” Jérôme recalls. “Compared to our opponents, it was difficult to locate the Lexus. But for a car designed in the mid-2010s, it was cutting edge, which means, even ten years on, it still has potential.”
The No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 of Arnold Robin, Kelvin van der Linde and Clemens Schmid and the No. 87 of José María López, Takeshi Kimura and Esteban Masson sit respectively 13th and 18th in the LMGT3 standings. Akkodis ASP's best result of the season came at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the No. 78 finishing in 7th place. Jérôme Policand, who featured 13 times at the French enduro and notably won the 2023 Road to Le Mans GT3 category with Valentino Rossi, is far from satisfied.
“We expected to have a first year of learning, but we certainly hoped for better. We didn't really meet our objectives, but we feel that the team is getting stronger and stronger, showing absolute rigor. The team has learned a great deal this year. What we did well before, we now have to do it very well. That's what WEC is all about. Everything is a step further.”
Having founded the team in 1999, starting out in the Clio V6 European Trophy - where Akkodis ASP was already competing on track against AF Corse - and notably entered a certain Kévin Estre in the 2009 Porsche Carrera Cup France, Jérôme Policand assesses the progress made by Akkodis ASP in a quarter of a century and looks to the future. “From a small series, we’ve reached the peak of endurance racing. On a personal level, it's immensely satisfying. On programs like this, we have a four or five-year vision. Our goal is to be in pole position to run the new Toyota GT3, primarily in WEC, as early as 2026.”
