sA look behind the scenes at Team Virage, an always ambitious structure, around training and competition. The team has established itself as a serious player in endurance in Europe. Between growth, sharp organization and stated objective of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Philippe Gautheron, co-founder and technical director, looks back at the key stages of this adventure and the tools that accompany their development.
How was Team Virage born? ?
Originally, Julien Gerbi and I worked on the Virage academy. We had the opportunity to create the racing team in 2017, avec Tomasz Blicharski, a passionate gentleman driver. I therefore left my position as director of Campos Racing and my other activities to devote myself entirely to the creation and development of Team Virage. ! From, Adreea Nita joined us for the administrative and financial part.
We started with 2 cars in V2V and 2P3. When you come from GP2 and have passed through the F1 paddocks, we tell ourselves that it’s not very competitive… but we quickly realize that there is really a level ! Since we started, it really became professional, the challenge is always more exciting.
Where is your structure based? ?
We are based in Valencia, in a magnificent ultra-modern technological hub. We are really the “bad students” ! Next to us, there are very advanced research and training centers. More, it’s really a pleasure to be based here, for everything the region can offer.
Roles and organization
My role, concerns the overall operation and Julien takes care of the management part of the team, the relationship with the pilots, the operational. It's also a very fast bronze !
For my part, what I prefer, That’s still the engineering part… but I can only do it 5% of my time. I take this role mainly with young people, pilots or mechanics, because training remains in our DNA, with the Academy. Among the pilots who have passed there, there is Sergio Perez, but many others have left their mark on us and we have maintained very good relationships over the years.
Which park do you manage today ?
Today we have around thirty full-time employees.
We manage 3 P4 en Ligier European Series, 2 P3 in Le Mans Cup, a P3 and a P2 in ELMS and other vehicles in FRECA, among others
What goals for the future ?
We want to continue to develop and be a strong and sustainable entity in motorsport.. Grow and win, by strengthening itself on all levels. The objective is clear : the 24 hours of Le Mans. On a 75% chances of doing it next year !
How does RPM fit into your operation? ?
We have been in contact with Frédéric Julien for several years and have been following RPM. What suits us very well with RPM is that it is a system that is easy to use and simple to integrate into an organization.. It’s in SAAS, everyone can have access to it, it's very practical. The system is well thought out and adapted to a team like ours. It's very easy to pass a box, a motor or hub carrier from one car to another, to continue managing the mesh in all configurations.
We can suggest improvements and RPM develops things quickly and very efficiently, it’s a real plus.
Frédéric knows what it’s like to manage a team and this is inevitably reflected in the solutions offered by RPM.