The winner of the last Andros Trophy, now in his fifth season with Toyota and his second at the wheel of the Toyota Auris, is motivated by a strong sense of team spirit.

When we talk about last season, is it your seven victories and your title that immediately come to mind?
What stands out is the fact that we had a successful season with three additional reasons for satisfaction. The Toyota team was an extraordinarily closely-knit one; we were quick everywhere and the team showed total mastery when it had to cope with the different conditions on ice. We were never at the mercy of unexpected incidents, and we always knew where we were going. Sometimes we sacrificed a bit here and a bit there to gain a lot at the right moment. The peak tyre efficiency often required a very finely-tuned strategy. We’ll have to be able to reproduce this performance if we want to win the title for the second time. We’ll have to master extreme situations even better when the track conditions deteriorate and bumps appear and ruts deepen without compromising the car’s handling.

What’s your best memory of 2006-2007?
I’d answer best memories as they concern three of my seven 2007 victories: the second race at Isola 2000, the first at Serre-Chevalier the following weekend and the first at Super Besse with sixty kilos of ballast on board!

And your aim now is to defend your title?
Yes, that’s the aim, but I’m not going to think too much about it as I prefer tackling the Andros Trophy race by race. Of course, I’ll fight to be champion again but if Olivier Panis is in front then I’ll put the interest of the team first. Yes, I’m going for the title, yes I’ll do my best to be competitive but for sure I’ll be racing against Olivier, Jean-Philippe Dayraut and the others.

Does the fact that you’ve won it change your approach to the Andros Trophy?
I’m not going to tackle it in a different manner. It all depends on what your philosophy is. Is your ultimate aim to win the title, or are you there to be competitive on ice, which has always been my main motivation. But this branch of the sport is very complicated - mind-boggling even! A driver may dominate at one moment and find himself way back a run later. What motivates me is to be quick in all conditions and to continue to progress.

You’re now in your fifth season with Toyota...
It gives me great satisfaction to have been part of the launch of the Toyota Auris thanks to my title. It’s an honour to enjoy the trust of the n°1 car manufacturer in the world, and I’d like to thank Toyota France for its faith in me. We’re partners and we’re also friends, and it’s a pleasure to defend their colours. I feel really good in the team and you won’t be surprised to hear that Richard Tur, the technical director of Toyota Team Tork Engineering, and I get on like a house on fire. I’ve always got on very well with my engineers and even better with Richard. Together we go forward; it’s always positive and even when things don’t work out, there’s never any bitterness. He’s got that little touch of psychological insight which settles everything whatever the circumstances.

You’re with the same team-mates...
Working with Olivier makes me really happy. I know there’ll never be any problems with a guy like him. He’s a friend. Bertrand provides the glue to cement our team together. He’s an addtional asset as his experience on ice is of great benefit to the whole squad. Olivier has a great team-mate in him. There’s real complicity in the Toyota team.

So you don’t change a winning team?
Even when you’ve done a good job you have to try and see how you can do better in keeping with the principle of continuous improvement -"kaizen"- so dear to Toyota. We’ve won once with the Toyota Auris and now we have to have even more aces up our sleeve to win for the second time. As Richard Tur explains elsewhere we’ve tried to optimise all the details of both the Lexus engine and the chassis. We’ve done it by fine-tuning everything, which is the way to go in a competition like the Andros Trophy.

When did you start thinking for this year’s Andros Trophy?
I began really thinking about it in September. When the first cold spell occurs you’re back in the mood. Toyota France decided to defend the title almost immediately, so Richard and I were able to think about the new season early on. At the end of the last one we started to talk about further development on the Toyota Auris. Things followed their normal course and since September the preparation has been concentrated around fine-tuning the details.

How’s your left foot since your operation on 24th September?
At the start I couldn’t walk for very long but that was all. I didn’t have to have any re-education, as the joint was not the problem. It was just a question of removing the fragments of bone that handicapped me a little. It was the sequel of my accident on 23rd May 1982 in the Monaco Grand Prix in which my big toes were broken. The surgeon who operated on me in Cochin is one of the best and I’ll be in fighting form for the Andros.

In 2008, The Trophy will be back in the Stade de France. Will we see Alain and Nicolas Prost there at the wheel of a Toyota Auris?
Why not! It depends on Nicolas’s schedule; he did some testing in the Toyota at Val Thorens last March and made a pretty good job of it. Of course, there’s a big step between that and suddenly finding himself on an oval. Racing on an ice oval is a very special challenge. I’ve done it three times and I’ve never managed to win. I’d love to win the Super Final in the Stade de France. It’s not really a sporting challenge in the true sense of the term, but it would be the ideal finish should we win the Trophy again.

Communiqué de presse Toyota