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WEC - Return to Mexico for Yannick Dalmas

25.08.16
WEC - 6 Hours of Mexico - Interview with Yannick Dalmas, FIA Driver Advisor
FIA, Motorsport, Mobility, Road Safety, F1, WRC, WEC, WTCC, World RX

During his coveted racing career Yannick Dalmas won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and was victorious in many categories of motorsport, including winning the French F3 title in 1986 and the World Sportscar Championship in 1992 with Derek Warwick. 

The former world champion has been the FIA Driver Advisor to the Stewards and Race Director in the World Endurance Champonship since 2012 and will travel with the rest of the WEC paddock for the first world championship race for endurance sportscars in Mexico City for 25 years on Saturday 3rd September.  

However the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has a special place in his heart as it was the place that Dalmas made his Formula One debut in 1987 for Larousse and in 1991 he won the Mexican round of the  FIA World Sportscar Championship for Peugeot Talbot Sport alongside Keke Rosberg and Team Principal, now FIA President, Jean Todt.

Yannick Dalmas said about his Formula One debut in Mexico City:  “You know, for me, Mexico was my first Grand Prix in Formula One and the result of the first race was important.  I also had some pressure to get a good result because this was the start of my career in Formula One.  We were at altitude in Mexico and we had an normally aspirated engine and we lost some horsepower.  For me the track was new and I had to learn everything.  It was so complicated but a nice track, I liked it.

“There was pressure, but positive pressure and it was nice.  The atmosphere was very nice, Mexico has a lot of good memories for me. There were a lot of people, the traffic from the hotel to the circuit was unbelievable but it was a good feeling.  And the result was not so bad and was important for the rest of my career in Formula One.”

Four years later, and one year after he finished in Formula One, Dalmas return to Mexico City at the wheel of the Peugeot 905 in the 1991 FIA World Sportscar Championship.  The French driver had just won the previous round at Magny Cours with 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg and we looking to add a second victory to their tally in Round 7 of the eight race world championship.

“It was an incredible race as we had a lot of rain beforehand but the race was dry.  It was first season with Peugeot and Jean Todt, with Keke Rosberg as my teammate.  It was also important for me to get a good result.  In the first season in 1991 we had some technical problems and we didn’t always finish the race. And then in Mexico it was good and we won with Keke; we made a good job.  The result was also important for the next year.

“Winning in that race in Mexico in 1991 was important because it put us on the right path for 1992 with Derek Warwick.  The level was higher than the previous year, we won some races, we won Le Mans, we won the world championship. But winning, you never win alone. You win with the team, the team manager, the mechanics, the engineers, the logistics.  Everybody works for you and in endurance it is important to remember that.  You lose or you win but you are never alone.

“Now we return to Mexico with the World Endurance Championship and I am very happy about this.  I was the last driver, with Rosberg, to win in Mexico and now we return 25 years later in 2016.”

The FIA World Endurance Championship will take place on Saturday 3 September and is round 5 of the nine race world championship.