4 Hours of Le Castellet winner Tom Dillmann heads to Imola this weekend at the head of the LMP2 championship standings alongside his Inter Europol Competition teammates Sebastian Alvarez and Vlad Lomko.
The 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 Champion raced at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in his championship winning year. However, the French driver will be hoping for better luck in the 4 Hours of Imola this weekend as he, and fellow champion Alexander Mattschull, failed to score any points in Imola, the only time they finished outside of the top 10 that season.
Q) Tom, we're heading to Imola this week for round three of the European Le Mans Series; tell us about the circuit and its unique characteristics.
"It is always special to race in Imola because it has a lot of history. The track is challenging, being narrow and with no runoffs. I found you always need to push really hard to find hundredths of seconds in every corner. It can be very rewarding and a good shot of adrenaline in qualifying."
Q) With Sebastian and Vlad, you won the last race at Paul Ricard and now lead the LMP2 championship. Tell us if and how the race win alters the approach for this race here in Italy.
"It doesn't change anything really; we go race by race trying to maximise everything on our side. The level is high, and many cars could win, so it is important to be consistent and score the best possible result on the day."
Q) It's a beautiful circuit but passing remains an issue at these more traditional venues. Does this place a greater emphasis on qualifying than normal?
"I think that qualifying in Imola is probably the most important of the calendar."
Q) There are plenty of strong teams in this series, it gets more competitive by the year. Tell us about the level of detail that the team must delve into to ensure that the car is in the optimal performance window heading into race day.
"I won't give away any secrets (ah-ah), but in general, I think you need to do the work on and off the track with the sole objective of being at the top at the end of the 4 hours. Sometimes, you will compromise qualifying because you work on your race set-up as a priority, for example. These cars are extremely sensitive to track conditions, and you must adapt them and try to be in frontof the conditions rather than behind them."
The 4 Hours of Imola is Round 3 of the 2024 European Le Mans Series and takes place from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 July.
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