ASP’s Title With Silver Driver ‘Not Something that Happens Often’

Akkodis ASP boss Jerome Policand described his team’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup title with a Silver-rated driver in the lineup as “not something that will happen often.”

The French outfit won last year’s Endurance Cup with Platinum-rated Mercedes-AMG factory drivers Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella, but switched out the latter for Silver-ranked Timur Boguslavskiy ahead of its 2023 title defense.

That initially appeared to be a gamble as ASP went up against all-factory lineups from the likes of ROWE Racing, GetSpeed and AF Corse, but it ended up prevailing with the first drivers to score more than 100 points since Laurens Vanthoor nine years ago.

Policand told Sportscar365 that his team’s mechanics and engineers needed to be perfect as ASP sought to give Boguslavskiy as big a margin as possible to have the best chance of strong results for the No. 88 crew.

The 23-year-old Russian became the first Silver-rated driver to win the Endurance Cup since current Mercedes-AMG factory ace Luca Stolz in 2018.

“We know that Jules and Lello are among the best GT drivers in the world, but the pressure was on Timur to perform and do no mistakes,” said Policand.

“He did a small one at Monza, but at the end he impressed us, especially on Sunday when he had real pressure on him [during the middle stint].

“We cannot compare Timur and Dani. But when the situation is a bit less comfortable, the team has to be perfect. The setup has to be perfect. You have to do no mistakes at all and it’s something we worked on.

“I don’t say we have been perfect, but it was a season we have no regrets about on strategy and [avoiding] silly mistakes like overshooting the pit lane speed or unsafe release.

“If you look at the season itself, we started in a bad way because we had zero points after Monza, which is always a stressful situation. We won at Paul Ricard where Lello was just amazing. That also brought the confidence that Timur could be on it.

“Then we realized that we could match the best lineups and the best teams, even with a Silver driver.

“It’s a great achievement to win such a competitive championship with a Silver driver in the lineup. It’s not something that will happen often.”

After reigniting its title defense at Paul Ricard, Akkodis ASP finished second at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and crucially reduced the points lead of ROWE BMW drivers Marco Wittmann, Philipp Eng and Nick Yelloly who took the victory.

A second ASP win at the Nürburgring then teed up what became a straightforward run to the title at Barcelona, as the No. 88 crew kept ahead of ROWE for the entire three hours.

Identifying the factors that enabled his team to secure back-to-back Endurance Cup titles, Policand pointed out ASP’s consistency of personnel and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo’s effectiveness on the Pirelli P Zero DHF tire that was introduced last year.

“Lello is with the team since 2017,” he said. “Jules is in his third [consecutive] year with us and Timur is five years with us.

“They have the same engineers, same mechanics, same car. In the end, it paid off.

“In terms of true speed, I don’t think the AMG is the best car. Some other cars can be more competitive, but over one stint it’s difficult to match the Mercedes.

“When you have the good setup and tire pressure, you know after 15 or 20 laps you can make a slight difference. It’s something that makes us strong: not only us but all the Mercedes teams.”

He added that the adjusted driver lineup encouraged ASP to hone its pit stops and strategy calls this year.

“Sometimes, when you have a very strong lineup like we had last year, you are maybe in a too comfortable situation,” Policand suggested.

“And you are just looking at your true performance rather than other things. You always think that a driver can manage everything.

“But you have to have a good setup. You are maybe not so precise in terms of perfect pit stops and strategy. For sure the team improved a bit this season.”

Gounon said the No. 88 crew ‘became stronger’ after regrouping from its disastrous start to the season at Monza, where the car retired after incidents for Boguslavskiy.

However, Boguslavskiy’s consistency improved in the other rounds and contributed to the title run. He and Marciello are now focusing on protecting their GTWC Europe Sprint Cup points lead with one round to go.

“With the coaching of Lello and me, we helped to raise his game,” Gounon told Sportscar365.

“It showed last weekend: when you do a full stint ahead of Davide Rigon it’s a great achievement to not get passed, especially as a Silver.

“It was a great combination. He also trusted Lello and me in our capability. I think we complemented each other well in terms of setup. We always trust each other which is super important in a team.

“At the end, in endurance racing, it’s not all about one driver. It’s about three drivers. When you are able to make them work together, you get amazing results.”