Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2010

© ORECA / DPPI

Loïc Duval is a man on a mission. The Tokyo-based driver, a veteran of Super GT and Formula Nippon, will be returning to his native France next month to take part in the greatest race in the world, the Le Mans 24 Hours. And this year, he’s in it to win. Hailing from the cathedral town of Chartres, just an hour’s drive from the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe, it’s as much about regional as national pride for the 27-year-old racer.

When he arrived in Japan five years ago, Duval was touted as the “next big thing” among the dozen or so foreign drivers who ply their trade here. He quickly made a name for himself in the country’s two big international-level series, Super GT and Formula Nippon, scoring victories in both categories in his rookie season. He continued to impress in his sophomore year, becoming Super GT vice-champion before taking the Formula Nippon crown in 2009. Now the only remaining piece of unfinished business is to seal the title in Super GT, something he’s confident of doing this season.

“Why not?” he asks. “The new car from Honda [HSV-010GT] is extremely quick, and the Bridgestone tires work very well at all the circuits we visit. Plus, I have an excellent teammate [Takashi Kogure]. So yes, we definitely expect to be fighting for the title.” The Duval/Kogure Honda scored pole position on its debut race at Suzuka in March, and repeated the feat a couple of weeks later, a day before taking the car’s maiden victory in the second race of the season.

With the Golden Week Super GT race at Fuji Speedway now out of the way, Duval has one more round of Formula Nippon to go before facing his biggest challenge. Possibly the toughest event on any driver’s calendar, the 24 Heures du Mans is like wrapping a full season into a single event.

“Le Mans really is something special, and it’s very difficult,” he says. “The team spends the whole year for this one race, so it’s not like a championship where you can maybe miss one event or lose a race but still catch up later on. There is no room for error at Le Mans, so the pressure is really high.”

The oldest sports car endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours was first run in 1923. At a time when Grand Prix racing was making a name for itself with the fastest cars of the day, Le Mans was an entirely different test of man and machine, concentrating on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars that could race for a whole day, nonstop.

Duval’s first taste of the race came in 2008, where he turned heads with a highly credible eighth-place finish, netting the Jean Rondeau prize for “Best Rookie.” This year, he’s back with the crack French ORECA squad, but will be piloting the only semi-works Peugeot 908 HDi FAP on the grid, a customer version of the car that emerged victorious last year. When he competed with ORECA in the Le Mans Series’ 8H Castellet a few weeks back, he took fifth overall in the team’s AIM-powered ORECA chassis.

Asked about the biggest challenge for any driver at Le Mans, Duval is to the point. “First, you cannot make any mistakes. It can be very tough mentally for a driver, because you’re not alone: there are two other drivers sharing the car with you, and a mistake could cost the entire team a result. Also, you have to be competitive, so it’s a balancing act, coupling outright pace with driver skill.”

The press made quite a bit of noise about Duval during his Le Mans debut, and he has fond memories of the experience. “I was really lucky in 2008, because I took the car across the line at the finish,” he recalls. “When I saw all the guys from the team hanging on the pit wall cheering me on, and all the fans in the grandstand opposite, it was an incredible atmosphere. This continued after I parked the car and walked down the pit lane, with people swarming all around me. It was nice, because it’s like everyone is a winner: just to finish a race like this is such an achievement that the atmosphere is really electric.”

So does he think the experience will tempt him to move back to Europe for good? “To be honest, I’d love to stay in Japan, while also making the yearly trip to Le Mans. My overall goals at the moment are to stay here and win as much as possible in GTs.” When he’s not on the track, he reveals that he loves wakeboarding, often meeting fellow French driver Benoit Treluyer to go out on the waters of Lake Kawaguchiko.

“All I can say is that I’m really happy racing here in Japan,” he concludes. “OK, it’s maybe a little far from Europe, but the championships are really, really nice… I’m also really happy with the relationship I’ve built with Honda and all the people I’m working with—for me, it’s just great.”

Formula Nippon
Round 2. May 22-23, 9am. ¥2,500-¥17,000. Twin Ring Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture. Tel: 0285-64-0080. Le Mans is held on June 12-13. www.loicduval.fr