Jonathan André: ‘Driving a racing truck requires an enormous amount of anticipation’.

Was it natural for you to get behind the wheel after the death of your driver?

I've always dreamed of racing since I was a kid. But I didn't have the budget, so I never thought I'd make my childhood dream come true. I was already very happy working in truck racing. When Anthony died, there were several shareholders in the team, all with different opinions. Some people wanted to stop completely, others wanted to start again, but my only wish was to do at least Le Mans. I didn't want to stop overnight for the sake of our mechanics, our partners and our fans, so to speak, to bring the story to a close. So we looked for drivers. But the truck drivers were all already racing either in the French championship or in the European championship, so there weren't many available. We had thought of putting in a car driver, but we were afraid that he would want to do as well as Anthony and that it would end badly... It was during a discussion one evening with Pascal, our chief mechanic, that the idea came up. He told me that the result wasn't his priority. Suddenly, it clicked in my head and I proposed to take up the challenge myself for Le Mans. I suggested that we spend a day at Nogaro, to see if I could drive the truck. If I arrived, I took the wheel, otherwise we looked for another solution. And as it went pretty well, they said OK.

Why has it continued since then?

Basically, it was supposed to be a one-shot. I fulfilled a childhood dream, but not at all in the circumstances I'd dreamed of. Then the results followed. I won a race at Le Mans. I wasn't expecting that myself. Naturally, I liked it, the team followed me and the sponsors also said they would continue, so it was quite natural. Basically, it was supposed to be a one-shot. I fulfilled a childhood dream, but not at all in the circumstances I'd dreamed of. Then the results followed. I won a race at Le Mans. I wasn't expecting that myself. Naturally, I liked it, the team followed me and the sponsors also said they would continue, so it was quite natural.

Since then, you've been juggling between the French championship and the European championship...

Even though I won at Le Mans, I'm not at Anthony's level at all, so I still have to learn in France before one day, I hope, I can go and win races in Europe. Last year, our aim was to finish in the top five of the French championship, and I managed to finish fifth. This year, I wanted to finish between third and fifth, but at the moment I'm fourth, very close to third. So that's right on target, with third place still up for grabs. But I need to gain at least three seasons of experience before I can perform well in Europe.

What's it like to drive a racing truck?

It's really different from a car. The braking is really powerful. So is the acceleration, because we have 1200 bhp. We've got a blocked bridge, so it behaves a bit like a go-kart, and you really have to manage it to stay on the road. If you accelerate hard, you immediately start to slide. So you have to be very careful with the throttle and very gentle. There's also a lot of inertia. If you hit a vibrator a little hard, you immediately feel the weight, the five and a half tonnes, which take you quite a long way into the bend. And you need to anticipate a lot. The turbo, because it's so big, takes a while to charge up, so if you want power at a certain point, you have to start accelerating maybe 15 metres before the chord point. So it's quite special in terms of riding. If you're too much of a car person, it's not easy to get used to. Finally, there's a major parameter that has to do with managing the cooling of the brakes. They are in fact water-cooled. To do this, we take two hundred litres of water with us for the races and consume around one hundred and fifty litres. The more you cool your brakes, the more the water turns to steam, which then tends to go onto the tyres. As a result, the tyres are a little wetter and tend to slip. So you need to find the right balance between cooling enough but not too much or you'll end up slipping too much.

What's the most difficult part of the discipline?

The starts, because we're all stuck together. But it's a crucial moment because we're all limited to 160 kph in a straight line, so it's at the start that everything is decided, and that's where you gain the most places. In a car, you can see ahead through the rear window of the competitors ahead of you on the grid. In a truck, you can only see the cab of the driver in front, so you can't make out the lines in front, and that's pretty impressive in the first few races. You find out at the last minute if there's a collision, for example.

What is the difference in level between the French championship and its European counterpart?

In Europe, the teams have bigger budgets, and many of them are professional teams whose sole activity is racing. We all have a job on the side. But racing in Europe is always very motivating, it pushes all our training to the top, because you have to pay attention to every detail.

What's the best truck race meeting?

Up until now, we've always said that it was the Nürburgring in Germany, but Le Mans is gradually catching up with it, if not supplanting it, in the opinion of all the drivers. These two events have developed a whole range of activities around the race, and offer something like a trade show with all the manufacturers and equipment suppliers. So all the teams are keen to present a superb image and bring along more attractive structures, which in turn attracts a lot more spectators. It's a virtuous circle.

What contribution have biofuels made to your sport, and in particular the HVO 100 supplied by TotalEnergies in the European Specialty Championship?

In France, we were the first team to test HVO 100 and at the time we didn't know what to expect. I remember that the Man engineers who follow our truck came especially for the occasion, and we were all pleasantly surprised because the truck didn't smoke at all, even with the same performance. And the engineers in question were even able to increase the engine power available to us thanks to the HVO 100. So it's all positive! The emission of black fumes was the big black spot in truck racing five years ago, but now it's a thing we don't see at all, nobody smokes any more and everyone has gained in terms of performance.