Bortolotti: Prema “Only at the Beginning” in Quest for Win

Prema’s Mirko Bortolotti is buoyed by the No. 63 crew’s start to the FIA World Endurance Championship season, adding that the team is “only at the beginning” as it seeks to achieve a first win.

Bortolotti and co-drivers Doriane Pin and Daniil Kvyat sit second in the LMP2 standings following the opening round of the season, 16 points down on the United Autosports pairing of Phil Hanson and Frederick Lubin.

The trio, which includes two LMP2 debutants in Pin and Kvyat, was in contention for the top positions in class in both Sebring and Portimao, finishing third in the season-opener and fourth in round two.

“The aim was, or is, to do well,” Bortolotti told Sportscar365. “So obviously we’re aiming for the top.

“But nonetheless, we should never forget that there’s quite a lot of experience in the field with teams, drivers that have a lot more experience than us.

“So I think from that side we can be happy with what we’ve done, but we’re only at the beginning.”

Prema’s No. 63 Oreca 07 Gibson demonstrated front-running pace at both Sebring and Portimao but missed out on victory through varying circumstances.

Bortolotti noted that the team extracted the best possible result from the season-opener, while also admitting that it lost out at Portimao after starting from pole position.

“I think that in Sebring we maximized because we didn’t have an optimal qualifying,” the Italian said. 

“We had some problems there, so we couldn’t qualify where we wanted. We were on the back foot at the start and we just went off sequence with the others in strategy.

“Then we knew that it would have been difficult in the end because we knew we had to do a splash.

“At the end of the day, third place in Sebring was the maximum, I would say.

“Portimao, a little bit of the opposite, because starting from pole you always aim to end up there. We didn’t manage to do so. So I think Portimao, we didn’t maximize.

“But we still took important points for the championship, for the team. So I think in the end it’s been a positive start to the season.”

Bortolotti added that Prema has been eager to keep the number of operational mistakes and penalties as low as possible. The No. 63 car’s only sanction of the first two races was a five-second penalty for Kvyat turning around the Vector Sport car at the hairpin.

“We were talking about things that might look silly or stupid or not important, but the details are really important, especially when it comes to regulations, trying to avoid mistakes, procedures at the pit stops and all these kinds of things,” he said.

“Because one thing is the pace, one thing is the on-track work, [but] then there are a lot of little things that can go wrong, that can completely destroy your race.

“I think it was really a good job we did, having almost no penalties. Just a five-second penalty in the last race for a little contact for Daniil.

“Except that we didn’t have anything, and that’s really important in an endurance race.”

United Autosports ‘Team to Beat’ in LMP2

Bortolotti praised rivals United Autosports for their strong start to the season, noting them down as the team to beat in LMP2 after two races.

Lubin, Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque finished second at Sebring but were given maximum points as class winner Hertz Team JOTA was not a full-season LMP2 entrant.

United then secured a one-two finish in Portimao with its No. 23 car driven by Oliver Jarvis, Josh Pierson and Giedo van der Garde.

“They have been incredibly fast in the race,” Bortolotti said of the Anglo-American team.

“So hats off to them for their performance. It’s not only about us, it’s also about them and the competition in general.

“I think it’s a combination of the two things. For sure, we need to improve a couple of aspects. That’s what we’re trying to do, starting from this weekend and then we will see where we are.

“They have proven in the first two races of the season how strong they are. I think we also started in a really positive way and we showed our potential.

“We just have to put it together now in the race as well and hopefully the top results will come soon.”