They say that driving at your hometown track gives you an extra special lift and, for Ed Brown and the Tequila Patrón ESM team, this weekend is a big deal.
Brown lived in Austin back in the 1980s when he earned a Business degree from the University of Austin. He returns to the cultural capital of Texas a few times each year beside the annual Lone Star Le Mans weekend.
The genial head of the ESM Racing team has been looking forward to the fifth round of the WEC for a long time after spending much of the first part of the season travelling to Europe.
“I know Austin real well after studying here and I love the city,” said Brown. “To race here too is a real thrill and the circuit is a real challenge whatever car you are driving, but to race here in a thorough bred LMP 2 car is exceptional.”
Brown, who shares the No 31 ESM Ligier-Honda with team mates Johannes van Overbeek and Jon Fogarty, also believes that the event could provide more good results for the trio after four successive finishes in the points.
“We have made some engineering changes since Germany, and we now have a top Ligier engineer (Matthieu Leroy) working with us as lead engineer,” said Brown. “We are heavier than the Nissan-engined cars but we have a lot of familiarity at this track and we will be trying to emulate last season’s result by getting another podium placing.”
Brown was also able to confirm that the Tequila Patrón ESM team would be racing a full programme in the WEC for 2016.
“For sure we will do a full season of WEC again in 2016 and some US races too,” said Brown. “From a business standpoint we are always looking at different ways to make it easier for our Tequila Patrón consumers to see what we are doing at the cutting edge of motorsport.”
