In the middle of a heat wave, it's not difficult to remember Budapest and its 37°C on the Hungaroring track near the capital onsunday 14th June. And as it's the start of the holidays, it's the ideal time to talk about Anthoine and his team's summer program. At the end of the second race - 6th position - of the hungarian program, we interviewed a young Tech1 engineer in charge of Anthoine's car. "We have 2 days of tests programmed this summer; we're going to work hard to be able to win Silverstone" said Arnaud Cholley, who presented a mixed picture of the week end in the hungarian heat, while the rest of the racing world was focused on Le Mans. "It's a shame because we had our chances in the practice sessions. But we didn't manage to make up for the time we lost on friday. On this track it's very difficult to overtake... It's a real shame because Anthoine did a pretty good second race on sunday, with the third or fourth clock time despite the trafic ; he had the right rythm. But saturday, he left without any points for the first time of the season" continued the engineer from l'Isat de Nevers.
" We are not yet at the end, because it's not even mid-season, but as Anthoine and his team are aiming for the title, it's now that they have to win races. Nothing is lost, and nothing is certain as yet... even though in this event the Kaufmann team has come slightly ahead." indicated the young man from Franche-Comté.
At 25 years of age, Arnaud Cholley already has two years experience with Tech1. In the Toulouse team, he first worked on data analysis with Formule Renault 3.51, with which Olivier Panis's son is racing this season, before working with a FR 2.0 with Romonav as a driver at the beginning of the season, and then his subsitute Russell who won a race!
This man has Anthoine's trust and it's essential. "Tuning a car is a team effort. You start with a baseline because we know the circuit and the previous settings and I note down the car's reaction after each session. We then work to improve it with the help of the data collected by the computers. But we can still make mistakes and go in the wrong direction and it's then that the complicity between driver and engineer is important" shared Anthoine. The young man from Chartres will take a two month break before returning behind the wheel.
"Taking the pressure off is important... so you're in good condition to pursue the second half of the season." The Tech1 tests are planned a little before Silverstone (5th and 6th september. It won't be at Silverstone because it's against the World Series by Renault rules...)
Texte : Roger DUVIVIER
