A Lap of Paul Ricard - Andy Wallace

The lap begins as you cross the start/finish line on the Pit Straight. It’s wide, there are a row of team pit boards on the right and you are “plucking” gears under full acceleration on the run down to the first corner at la Verrerie. Arriving at full revs in 5th you line up towards the right hand side of the track ready for the braking area. You need to watch out for cars exiting the pits, then it’s hard on the brakes and down into 2nd gear for the left / right complex. La Verrerie is very tight but the entry is slightly faster than it looks as you approach. Around the first apex the road rises towards the second apex on the right before falling away again on the exit. It’s easy to run out of road here if you get onto the throttle too early. Next comes a short blast down to “Chicane”. The road curves gently to the left before you brake hard again for the right which is taken in 2nd gear. Immediately the tight left appears and you have to get the car stopped and down into 1st gear. Then you momentarily go to full throttle in 1st before braking again for the right hander at Sainte-Beaurne. Back to full throttle and up through 2nd & 3rd gears. You have to lift slightly as the car washes wide in the long right hander of the Esses then flat out through L’Ecole grabbing 4th on the exit. Way ahead up the long Mistral Straight is the ultra fast Signes corner. Up to 5th up to 6th with the speed building all the time. Often you can feel the strong mistral winds as you momentarily relax. You have to pick a path through the worst of the bumps here so as not to bottom the car out too much and scrub off speed. At close to 300 km/h you arrive at Signes. Just a light dab on the brake pedal, into 5th gear, then turn-in and squeeze the throttle back down as soon as you can. The speed and the downforce are very impressive and you feel the g force build then ebb away as you reach the exit. Almost immediately you arrive at the Double right. The entry is fast and the road dips away. Then it tightens quite considerably and the road rises again. A tricky corner to get right, and in the Lola Coupe the RH roof pillar obscures your view of the second apex. You have to use other references to gauge where you are. Next comes L’epingle, a reducing radius left hander that seems to go on forever. You can carry good speed into this 2nd gear corner but as it tightens, you again lose sight of the apex and have to use alternative landmarks to reach it. Back to full throttle and up through the gears around the gentle right hand curve at Village. Tour arrives suddenly and you have to brake diagonally in towards the apex in order to slow the car enough to make the corner. Then a short step on the throttle in 2nd gear takes you to the final turn, Virage du Pont. This is a very tight 1st gear right hander that leads you back onto the pit straight. The traction control works overtime on the exit as the tyres scrabble for grip. As you sweep across the line the lap time flashes up on the dash and you speed into another lap!

I first drove at Paul Ricard in early 1988 during my audition for a place on TWR Jaguar’s Le Mans squad. It was also the first time I had driven at over 200 mph and was a real eye opener. I got the drive, so I think I did OK!

Of course the circuit has changed a lot since then, but it still follows the same general layout. Safety has been improved beyond all recognition and the paddock facilities are truly amazing. Everything about the circuit is first class and it’s an excellent place go testing in preparation for Le Mans. I haven’t raced there since my David Price Racing Harrods McLaren days in 1996, but have been lucky enough to test there on numerous occasions.