Canal: Experience vital in new era of LMP2
FIA World Endurance Championship returnee Julien Canal believes experience will pay dividends more than ever before as the LMP2 class enters into a new era of competition.
Regulations introduced for 2017 require all teams to use closed-cockpit sports prototypes produced by one of four approved chassis suppliers, each powered by a homogenised Gibson engine.
As all the teams learn the nuances of their new package, 2015 LMP2 champion Canal believes those benefitting from the feedback of experienced drivers will have an edge in the early rounds.
The only driver to win championships in two different classes of the WEC, having added the LMP2 title to his earlier GTE-Am success in 2012, Canal has joined Vaillante Rebellion after a year away in the ELMS.
The Frenchman returned for a one-off appearance with Manor in Bahrain, where he lapped within 0.2 seconds of team-mate Roberto Merhi, and will now contest the full season at Rebellion alongside Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna.
“With the new car we have a new challenge – it’s between two and four seconds faster than last year, so it’s harder to drive for the neck and the arms, but it is very exciting,” he noted.
Having won the title in his last full year in the championship, 34-year-old Canal is determined to carry on where he left off in 2015 with G-Drive Racing, winning four times alongside Sam Bird and Roman Rusinov.
“There are a lot of things we have to work on the car and with the team, but in each participation of the WEC I have performed quite well, and I think we have a good package, so now we just have to push,” he said.
“It’s just amazing to have Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna as my team-mates, they are very, very good guys and I think we have a good combination for this year to have some success.”
