Inter Europol Adds Lomko, Novalak to Le Mans Lineup

Clement Novalak and Vlad Lomko have been added to Inter Europol Competition’s lineup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the former making his debut at the French endurance classic.

The two drivers will join Silver-rated team regular Jakub Smiechowski aboard the No. 34 Oreca 07 Gibson, which competes in the 16-car LMP2 class.

Both drivers form part of Inter Europol’s two-car lineup in the European Le Mans Series, although they compete in different cars there. The team was only granted a single entry for Le Mans, having taken victory in the LMP2 class last year.

Notably, Tom Dillmann, who was listed alongside Smiechowski on the provisional entry list for the 92nd running of the event, is no longer part of the lineup.

French driver Novalak, who transitioned from single seaters to sports car racing this year, will be making his Le Mans debut.

He was originally scheduled to also make his first outing in a 24-hour race at Daytona in January, before he was sidelined by an injury sustained in a pit lane incident.

“It’s my second take of a 24 Hours race this year, and hopefully, this will be smoother for me, having eventually missed out on the Rolex 24 at Daytona,” Novalak said.

“I’m really looking forward to it; it’s a driver’s favourite and one that we all look forward to immensely.

“Being with such a strong team, one that won last year, gives me so much confidence. There will be a lot of preparation ahead, but running at night at such a great circuit and dealing with the challenges as they come along will be fun.

“I consider it a home race, and for sure, I hope it brings with it those extra couple of tenths.”

Lomko, meanwhile, made his debut at the event last year with Swiss squad Cool Racing in a lineup that also featured 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud.

“We always try to win, and nothing changes there,” said team manager Sascha Fassbender.

“We have a strong driver lineup; Clem is a rookie this year with us, as was Albert (Costa) with us last year, and we had a good experience with that.

“Vlad raced at Le Mans last year, so he knows the track and will be strong. Kuba has lots of experience and is always clean and error-free; he is strong at Circuit de la Sarthe.

“This year, we have one car, so it is good in one way to have just that car to focus on, but naturally, we would rather run two and win that extra invitation on merit.

“The regulations have changed this year, so we have less freedom. The series has now frozen the gear ratios in LMP2, but that’s no problem for us as we head into the test confident that we can hit the ground running.”