Policand: New Hard Tire Key to Lexus’ First LMGT3 Victory

Akkodis ASP Team boss Jerome Policand cited the newly introduced Goodyear Eagle Hard compound as key to the team’s first LMGT3 class victory in the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.

Razvan Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid and Jose Maria Lopez delivered Lexus’ maiden FIA World Endurance Championship win with a commanding performance, having taken the lead in the opening hour.

Speaking post-race, team principal Policand hailed the significance of the victory after a challenging debut season for the French squad, also pointing to the newly introduced Hard compound tire in LMGT3 as a key factor in the win.

“One year ago, we were just nowhere and it was an annoying situation,” said Policand. “We won almost all the championships in the GT3 world and coming to the WEC we had a very high ambition.

“We were shocked to be a back-marker and then we just concentrated to make the car quicker.

“Thanks to the support of Toyota Gazoo Racing this winter, we knew that now we have the performance over one lap, but we’re struggling about the tire deg since the beginning of the season.

“And so thanks for Goodyear to come with a harder compound, which I think was a key for us today.

“Because in the second stint usually we lose some pace and we lost some position. Today we managed to stay in front.”

Policand paid tribute to each individual member of his driver lineup, hailing the “great” achievement for the team.

“Thanks for my drivers,” said Policand. “To have a world champion in the lineup, a man who won Le Mans and WTCC. He’s a great driver, so to give him a gift after all the hard times…

“Of course his teammate Clemens, we [first spoke] together on a phone call just before Spa because one of my drivers was sick.

“I just checked on the FIA list and I said I have to find the best Silver and I saw his name, I called him and now he’s on the top of the podium.

“And of course, Petru. We have a long story together because he raced with us in the GT World Challenge and he nearly stopped racing during three years.

“I pushed him to come back because he has a Bronze status. I said, ‘Man, you have to drive this championship.’ What he achieved today is great and so thanks for everyone.”

Lopez, for his part reflected on the “long journey” with the Lexus program last year, expressing relief that the team was able to capture a win after previous opportunities went unfulfilled.

“It’s been a long journey,” he said. “We started from scratch with this team. We’ve been working really hard.

“This race was the worst race for us last year so I think we learned a lot from that.

“We knew where to work and of course they did an amazing job this year. The performance of the car was really good.

“We had a few races where we could have achieved a podium at least and somehow some mistakes and some bad luck made us lose the podium.

“So to achieve the victory here, honestly for me it’s very emotional because we work hard. Jerome, the whole Akkodis ASP team did an amazing job from the beginning.

“Making some huge progress, learning a lot as well and showing how strong they are as well, because the team worked really hard and they made big progress.”