Habsburg, Deletraz Trying Not to Get “Wound Up” in Title Situation

Prema drivers Ferdinand Habsburg and Louis Deletraz are trying to put their status as clear favorites for the European Le Mans Series title to the back of their minds heading into this weekend’s season finale.

The drivers of the No. 9 Oreca 07 Gibson hold a 24-point cushion at the top of the LMP2 standings, with a maximum of 26 points available at the 4 Hours of Portimao.

Their advantageous position was established by wins at Paul Ricard, Imola and Barcelona alongside Lorenzo Colombo, as well as a podium at Spa with Juan Manuel Correa, who is with them again this weekend.

Habsburg and Deletraz’s nearest rivals Nico Jamin, Job van Uitert and Julien Canal must win at Portimao and rely on zero points from Prema to cause a massive title upset.

Prema can also seal the championship with pole position.

However, both points leaders have experienced dramatic late twists first-hand, as they were on each side of the fence when WRT’s No. 41 Oreca ground to a halt on the final lap of last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, handing class honors to the sister No. 31 car.

“I feel calm,” defending ELMS champion Deletraz told Sportscar365.

“A lot of people have told us that it’s done and we only need one point. But I don’t believe in it.

“I think we have to approach it the same way as every race. We won’t take all the risks to win the race because we need one point, but you lose it if you think too much about it.

“After what happened to me in Le Mans last year, you don’t want to believe it until you’ve crossed the checkered flag.

“We learned a lesson and when someone tells me it’s done, I tell them it’s not.”

Habsburg also recalled last year’s Le Mans finish, when he benefited from Deletraz’s car – then driven by Yifei Ye – stopping due to an electrical shortcut.

“I won Le Mans from second place on the last lap when my teammate broke down 20 seconds down the road,” Habsburg told Sportscar365.

“So, from the saying, I only celebrate when the fat lady sings.

“We want to get the pole in qualifying because it 100 percent secures it. But we can’t fully focus on that, because we still have a race that we want to win.

“It’s a strange feeling in that way, because people are trying to get us to sign off media things and prepare posts for the championship title. But we haven’t won it yet.

“It’s the boring answer, but we are just thinking about winning the race. It’s not a strategy to get wound up in the championship. When you go to a weekend, you want to win.”

Reflecting on how Prema put itself in a strong position for the title, Deletraz suggested that the team’s two-series effort in ELMS and the FIA World Endurance Championship played a part, even if the latter hasn’t yielded the same level of fortune as the former.

Prema uses the same team of mechanics and engineers for its ELMS and WEC programs.

“I think it was needed,” said Deletraz, who co-drives Prema’s WEC Oreca with Colombo and Robert Kubica.

“We started from zero. It was the same with WRT last year, but they knew endurance. 80 percent of our team was new to endurance.

“We went straight to Sebring with very little knowledge and took the [gained] knowledge to Barcelona ELMS. The mistakes we did in WEC, we didn’t do in ELMS, and vice versa.

“I think the car has always been spot on. It was always one of the quickest early on, which was quite impressive. And then we improved a lot on procedures and mistakes.

“If you saw our garage at Sebring, it would not be as cleanly organized as it is now. We’re still improving every day. Between Prema and Iron Lynx, they are putting it all together.”

Habsburg, who described Barcelona as the team’s best ELMS race of the year, praised the team’s engineers and drivers including Colombo, who did the first four races.

“Any driver who has gone anywhere has, at one point, dreamt of racing for Prema,” he said.

“That bears some responsibility in delivering everywhere you go. And they’ve done that so far here in ELMS.”