Chatin will join his teammates Paul Lafargue and Job Van Uitert in the no28 Oreca 07-Gibson on the back of a disappointing race in Barcelona at the beginning of April. We caught up with Paul Loup for a quick Q&A session ahead of Round 2 of the 2026 European Le Mans Series, the 4 Hours of Le Castellet.
Q1: The 2026 4 Hours of Le Castellet will be your 12th ELMS LMP2 race at the Circuit Paul Ricard. While you’ve enjoyed success at your home circuit, with three 2nd place finishes in 2014, 2019 and 2024. What is the secret to having a good race here at Paul Ricard?
“Yeah, I’ve never won here. We were super close in 2023, but we had a failure at the end of the race. What is the secret? It's a good question. I don't know, as I never won, I think it's to find the good balance with the car between top speed and aero, because you need a lot of aero for the last sector. Then it will help you also to manage in a good way, your tyres.
“One particularity of this track to me is the wind; most of the time it's windy. It's important to have a fast car, but it's also important to have a predictable car.”
Q2: Do you have a favourite corner or section at Le Castellet?
“My favourite sequence is the last sector, starting from Signes to the last runner. It's really a section that I appreciate a lot, you need to be brave, you need to have good aero car, and, in terms of driving skills, it has a lot. For me, it's quite fun.”
Q3: How easy is it to deal with traffic here at the Circuit Paul Ricard? Is it easier than somewhere like Barcelona?
“I'm not sure it's easier. It's just safer, in a way that you can allow yourself to take a bit more risk, because if, for any reason, the behaviour of the car you try to overtake is different compared to your expectation, you have place to open the steering wheel and go wide. Okay, you will lose time, but you will not damage the car. It's safer, so that makes it easier.”
Q4: This will be your 9th 4 Hours of Le Castellet with IDEC Sport and with Paul. Tell us about what it means to you as a driver to race with IDEC Sport?
“For me, working with IDEC is something special. It's a bit like if you race with your family, with your friends, and we share a lot of good moments with Paul and IDEC for 10 years now. It's always something amazing as a driver to experience to be on the racetrack, having an amazing time on track, but also outside of the track. With IDEC, we are here to perform. I think the team is set to perform as good as possible. We have the best engineers, the best mechanics and the best management. But we also get to have a good time all together.”
Q5: You won your first LMP2 title in 2014 and then you won your second with Paul and IDEC in 2019. How does the competition compare from your championship winning season to the LMP2 field in 2026?
“For me, the main difference is the fact that in the past, only a few teams were at the top level, and in those only a few had top drivers, even if all drivers were super good. Now we can see that drivers are coming from top categories, from everywhere, to do LMP2 now. We have only good teams, only good drivers, and more cars. So, to get a good result is harder than before, and all details matters now. It was always the case, but what is sure is that the amount of perfection we need to put into the process today is crazy. Every year, every race, we had to improve; to continue to work hard. The experience and the professionalism of the teams, plus drivers, make the championship super hard and super interesting.”
Q6: Tell us about the race in Barcelona and what are the positives you are taking from that race going into the 4 Hours of Le Castellet?
“I think it was difficult for us, the way we finished the week. It was a super positive until the race. It was important for us to start the year directly in a good mood and we were super happy with what we showed during the Prologue and during practice. We were always there, always fighting in the top five. Unfortunately, the race did not have happened as we were expecting, so it was a bit difficult for the team, but it's racing.
“I'm still super positive about Barcelona, because what we showed there gives us a lot of confidence for the entire season. So, we just need to continue to work hard and I'm sure the pace will be good this weekend. I hope the result will be also good”
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