Promising start to endurance season for Arthur Leclerc with Panis Racing
Having been announced in March as the new LMP2 driver with Panis Racing for the 2024 season, Arthur Leclerc is entering a new world.
Being reserve driver fo the prestigious Scuderia Ferrari wasn’t enough for Arthur Leclerc. In March, the young Monegasque signed up as a regular driver for an unexpected French team, Panis Racing. He joins Charles Milesi and Manuel Maldonado, whose cousin is Pastor, the former F1 driver.
It’s something of a tangent for Leclerc, as it is a completely new automobile category for him. The Panis Racing team takes part in the European Le Mans Series, the endurance championship, in the LMP2 category. Having always driven Formula 1, 2, 3 or 4 cars, Leclerc had to learn to drive a completely new vehicle to him.
Leclerc made his debut in LMP2 with the 2024 season prologue that took place on April 8 and 9 on the Barcelona track. A successful debut against the odds, as he notched up the best lap of the prologue on the Catalan circuit.
Already ahead of the rest, Leclerc was praised by his team’s Technical Director, Florent Gouin: “Arthur was a newcomer to LMP2 and he was up to the challenge, both technically and in terms of performance. It’s up to us to fine-tune everything we need for the race meeting.”
However, the team didn’t manage to capitalise in the first race, finishing 5th in Barcelona. An average result that was followed a month later by a second disappointing race at the Castellet circuit in France.
The team finished 9th, wiping out Arthur Leclerc’s good preseason performance. The Monegasque is more and more invested in the team but the results have yet to come…