Duncan: My season in the Blancpain Endurance Series

Duncan Tappy has been speaking to the Blancpain Endurance Series website about his successful first season in GT racing.

During the year he came fifth with co-driver Grégoire Demoustier in the series’ GT3 Pro-Am Cup, taking a pole and later leading during his home event at Silverstone, and putting in an outstanding performance to take a class victory in its Spanish round at Navarra.

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He said: “It was very good and positive year for me in 2012. It was the first season for me in endurance racing as well as in GT’s. The pace was there straight away, as I hoped and thought it would be from the start.

“To be with a team like ART and a manufacturer like McLaren was a dream come true really. They made me feel at home straight away. We should really have had some results earlier on but for some reason it didn’t happen. So to finish with two podiums at the end of the season was good.

He said he had been pleased with the relationship he developed with ART who he rated as really good in listening to his feedback and suggestions.

“I had occasions in the past where engineers didn’t really listen but they were great at that. I felt that everything I was saying made a difference, once we had this relationship well established, then it was brilliant.”

His season highlights included a pole at Silverstone and great pace in the rain at Monza: “We were the fastest McLaren there and showed lots of promise. Putting it on pole, being quicker then the pro-cars, was great and really put my name on the map.”

He said there was a big difference in terms of the approach to races in GT racing compared to single seaters.

“It was something I really enjoyed getting my head around. My long term goal is to have a strong career in sports cars and endurance racing. So I want to learn everything as quickly as possible and take everything on board.

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“ART has a good relationship with McLaren which was key in 2012. The car had some issues at the beginning of the year which was very small considering everything about the car was pretty new. It really proved itself at the end of the year. So I think next season it’s going to be even stronger.

“The Blancpain Endurance Series is a quality championship with great teams and drivers. The sizes of the grid in 2012 were spectacular. There are ex-F1 drivers in there, you’ve got up and coming single seater boys who are trying to make a career in it as well.

“I think it’s an absolutely brilliant championship and I think more and more people want to be involved in it. It’s by far the most competitive GT championship out there at present.”

He said that he is hoping to race in the series next year, although nothing is yet decided: “At the moment we’re still looking; we are in touch with different people, so we will have to see what comes my way in 2013.”

Read this article on the Blancpain Endurance Series website here.

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