"My Magic Moment of 2015" by Eduardo Freitas and Sam Bird

16/12/2015

Eduardo Freitas: FIA Race Director

“One of the high points of the season was, for me in Nürburgring on the evening of Race Day. After the race, and as we were waiting for the final results from Scrutineering, the Clerk of the Course (COC) came into the room. Up to this point it had been "all in a day's job" but, at a certain point, the COC informed us that he had just come from a Chief Post Marshal debriefing, and he had some interesting comments on Full Course Yellows.

Comment 1: "At the beginning we were a little bit anxious when we were told that we could work on the track under FCY, but then we were surprised how good it worked and the drivers' behavior when they passed our position."
Comment 2: "Never felt so safe, when working on the track."
Comment 3: "Please tell the drivers a big thank you for their behavior under FCY. They slowed down and even more took care of us when we worked on the track."
Comment 4: "I'm doing my job since 11 years as a marshal at the Nürburgring, but I must say I never felt so safe under FCY and with the drivers' behaviour."

“This is a product of a lot of work and discipline from the drivers. The Marshals' comments were given to the drivers at the next race in Texas during the drivers' briefing. Very rewarding indeed!”

Sam Bird: 2015 LMP2 Driver Champion

“Clinching the championship at Bahrain is the standout memory for me in 2015 as far as my LMP2 racing went. I was lucky in that I won twice at home this season; once at Silverstone with G-Drive and then in the summer with Virgin Racing in Formula E.

“But Bahrain was special. We had a meeting before the race started and it was very much along the lines of don’t do anything else differently to what we have been doing all season. The attitude to win the race stayed the same and we all applied ourselves to win that race and, in so doing, we did it. We did it in style and proved we were the best team in LMP2 that season. It did everyone a lot of good, and we came away as deserving victors, in my opinion.

“Roman (Rusinov) and Julien (Canal) were superb all season and as a team we worked very efficiently. There were so many good memories but to win the title with another win was difficult to top as a magic memory of a great season for all of us at G-Drive Racing.”

Images by Adrenal Media

“But Bahrain was special. We had a meeting before the race started and it was very much along the lines of don’t do anything else differently to what we have been doping all season. The attitude to win the race stayed the same and we all applied ourselves to win that race and in so doing we did it. We did it in style and proved we were the best team in LMP2 that season. It did everyone a lot of good, and we came away as deserving victors in my opinion.