Australian Scott Andrews has teamed up with American Gerald Kraut for a season in the Michelin Le Mans Cup driving the no22 Ligier-Nissan run by United Autosports.
At the first round in Barcelona, the Australian/American duo qualified 17thon the grid but an eventful 2-hour race saw the no22 Ligier move steadily up the order and finish on the podium behind the race by race entered no15 RLR MSport Ligier, which meant Andrews and Kraut left Spain with a maximum 25 points and the championship lead.
We caught up with Scott Andrews to talk about that eventful race in Barcelona and his thoughts on the weekend ahead in Le Castellet.
“Barcelona was a good race for us. A little bit surprising, especially given how the race was going, but the team had a really good strategy, and we were able to jump quite a few in the pitstops.The safety car also really helped us as I was able to bridge the gap for free and I was able to pass some cars, which was handy. Yes, with a little bit of luck, it turns out we are leading the championship.That’s something we didn’t really expect and is really cool.
“This year is more of a fun year for Gerry and I, we’ve been doing a lot of American racing together and we wanted to come back to Europe because we both love it.
“Gerry’s definitely enjoying his last season or two in pro racing and this is why we wanted to do Europe. We love coming here, it’s a lot of fun.We wanted to come here last year but with Covid it made it near impossible, so we stayed in America.For sure it makes sense to do it this year. It’s a shame the races have no fans but it’s OK, we still get to enjoy the nice weather and stuff.
“The Michelin Le Mans Cup is really competitive.The bronze drivers here are really good.As this is a fun thing, we’re not really doing any testing, so Gerry and I are coming over and Barcelona was a new track for both of us and so is this one at Le Castellet.This kind of puts us on the back foot but that’s OK, this is more of a fun factor than going full out to win the championship.
“To be honest, looking at the onboard, I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the track here at Le Castellet, but when I got out there it was a lot of fun.It’s a great circuit, it’s quite technical as well, which is something I enjoy.Overall, I enjoy this track more than I thought I would, and we are looking forward to this weekend.”
