Ryan Briscoe has opened up on his experiences as part of Glickenhaus’ Hypercar programme and race debut at the Eight Hours of Portimao.
The veteran Australian and 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona winner is one of seven drivers who has been involved in the development of the American Hypercar and will take part in its race debut alongside Romain Dumas and Richard Westbrook.
The American team is making its longawaited debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship this weekend, joining Toyota and Alpine with a one-car entry in the new Hypercar class before upgrading to two cars at Monza and Le Mans.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Briscoe expained why being part of the team has been such a unique experience.
“Being part of this programme is so special,” he said. “It’s such a big project to accomplish and to be here on the grid here in Portimão, from such a very small group of people who have made this happen.
“It’s been a really unique programme for me to be part of. I remember the first test I went to in Monza, earlier this year, just the pride that there is in the garage. Just to see the car exit the garage and get running, you know.
“Everyone involved in the team has had their fingers on the car, in the development, the building of the car, and everything has just been built from scratch, engine included.
“Everyone on the programme is very excited to be here. Everyone is very proud of what they’ve accomplished so far and we’re anxious to get our first race under our belt and continue our preparation for Le Mans.”
The eight-hour enduro at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve will be one of learning for the team. Briscoe emphasizes that the goal is to bring the 007 LMH across the finish line, but still hopes to put in a good showing.
“When we’re in the car, we’re going to be racing like we always do, and we want to have a good showing here. But the number one goal is to finish. If we can, we want to do all the laps, all eight hours and learn as much as possible.
“Of course, we’re all competitive and we want to have a good performance, but I don’t think there could have been a more difficult track to start at.
“This is going to be an extremely tough track to balance the performance between the LMP2 cars and the LMH cars, but we just take it in stride and we are going to go out there and do our best.”
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