The role of the communications department inside FIA World Endurance Championship teams is a multi-faceted one, and as Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ Sonya D’Artois reveals, it enables her to ‘make people’s dreams come true’.
Coming from Canada, D’Artois may not have grown up with any great interest or involvement in motorsport, but in the latest instalment of FIA WEC’s new YouTube docuseries, ‘Beyond the Track’ – out today – she admits that ‘being able to share this passion with fans made it a passion of mine’.
As Digital Communications Manager for the French outfit, D’Artois is responsible for content production, press relations and media interviews, to enable journalists – be they season regulars or newcomers getting to grips with the intricacies of the sport for the first time – to communicate about Peugeot’s programme in the best way possible.
It is, she acknowledges, ‘super-important’ that it is a relationship built on trust, since ‘they are the vectors of the messages we want to portray to the world’. Her task is to build a bridge between the manufacturer, the media and fans, accompanied by all the pressure that comes with representing a brand that is over 200-years-old.
Managing the team’s drivers similarly falls under the communications team’s remit, with decisions frequently to be made regarding who should face the camera. That is where their diverse personalities come to the fore, from the serious approach espoused by experienced pro Paul di Resta to affable rising star Malthe Jakobsen, who is more of a natural joker.
“It’s important to remember they’re just humans,” D’Artois cautions, while her colleague, Justine Morice, concedes that there are some drivers ‘you have to avoid’ after races if things didn’t go to plan.
Whatever happens, di Resta affirms, ‘we are united as one family’, and D’Artois agrees.
“Sometimes, it’s very difficult being away from home – my whole family is in Canada still,” she explains. “But working with the team and travelling throughout the championship, we pretty much live together and have a very strong bond, so it’s kind of my family away from my family and makes me feel less far away from home.”
As to the most rewarding aspects of her job, she particularly enjoys ‘getting to know the brands and people in the championship’ and ‘the human side, where I get to make people’s dreams come true every day when I go to work – that’s pretty awesome’.
For Morice, meanwhile, the major pull is ‘the adrenaline rush you get from race weekends – it’s incredible’.
“So many people don’t like what they do for a living,” she concludes. “We’re the lucky ones.”
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