The Supercars legend who helped the previous F1 racer conquer Bathurst

Alexandre Premat has had no shortage of fast teammates in his profession spanning multiple disciplines around the globe.

The 2004 Macau Grand Prix winner took on Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in GP2, ending in the highest 4 in each seasons, and teamed with Audi teammate Mike Rockefeller to tackle Peugeot's challenge to the 2008 Le Mans Series title. fond memories of racing with Bruno Spengler in his F3 days, going to races together and learning English by singing along to the music on the radio.

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However, the West Coast-based Frenchman, who today manages F1 Academy newcomer Courtney Crone and in addition coaches Gentlemen Drivers within the Ferrari Challenge and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, when asked to choose his long stint in Supercars from 2013 to 2019 in Scott McLaughlin's favorite colleague from the team.

McLaughlin's season alongside Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden prevented automobile sharing for five of the following six seasons of Supercars endurance rounds and ended with shared Bathurst 1000 glory for DJR Team Penske in 2019. Premat also contributed to the primary two of three wins McLaughlin's Supercars titles before former Brad Jones Racing driver Tim Slade was hired as co-driver for McLaughlin's final season in 2020 12 months before moving to IndyCar.

“My highlight of V8 supercar racing was [with] Scott McLaughlin,” explains Premat. “Scott is a tremendous guy; we all the time had a superb time together. I remember going to COTA after we were racing V8 supercars in 2013, we were on the identical flight. Scott's values ​​and even his family's values ​​were a superb fit.

He says that even when Premat was not living in Australia, McLaughlin was in regular contact with him to maintain him updated on developments and to answer media inquiries about his pilot's movements. That level of trust, highlighted by McLaughlin in asking Premat to rejoin him after his own team change in 2017, was deeply appreciated when appearing on high-commitment tracks where “if you're not at the limit of the track, you're going to be two tenths less”.

Premat's most enjoyable moments in Supercars got here to McLaughlin during his time at GRM and DJRTP

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

“It was a real relationship,” Premat recalls. “The media was difficult for me at times, especially when I lived in America. They said, “Will Alex be ready, what did he do this year, did he run the race?” Scott said: “Alex, we are in the best team, you are one of the best drivers, I have 100% confidence in you.” There was no discussion about, “Will everything be okay?” He just made me imagine in his statement.”

Premat got here to Supercars for 2012 with GRM after leaving the Audi factory, however it wasn't that easy. He sat on Greg Ritter's bench at Surfers Paradise after which needed to miss the ultimate round in Sydney attributable to dehydration after his cool suit failed in the primary race. McLaughlin took his place for the primary time as a solo driver in Supercars, a prelude to joining the team full-time in 2013 when GRM's Michael Caruso switched to the brand new Nissan Altima design.

Premat says McLaughlin wanted to construct on his extensive manufacturer racing experience, which got here after one Formula 1 rehearsal with the Spyker team on the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix and, with Nicolas Lapierre, leading France to the inaugural A1 Grand Prix title in 2005. 06.

“I didn't feel pressure, so I just went out free. Some people do better without pressure.”
Alex Premat

“He asked me a lot about my past,” recalls Premat, who notes that McLaughlin was invited to DTM testing with Audi, “but couldn't get there because the timing wasn't right due to his V8 involvement.”

“I always build those kinds of relationships with my teammates; maybe I was too cool. Maybe that's why I wasn't going to F1! For me, friendship is more important.”

Premat lost his position in late 2013 when GRM became a Volvo factory team and hired Swede Robert Dahlgren as McLaughlin's partner. Fourth place in his first season in Adelaide was his best result, and the debutant won twice and declared himself a future star. Working with McLaughlin on the 2014-2015 Sandown-Bathurst-Gold Coast endurance race, Premat achieved his first podium finish at Surfers' and it is evident that limiting this system to working closely with McLaughlin had several benefits.

“Racing is not that easy because there is pressure throughout the season,” he says. However, on his part-time schedule, Premat says, “I didn't feel pressured, so I just got here free. Some individuals who don't have the pressure do higher since it's not the identical expectations, it's not the identical frustration that gave me all of the tools to be a greater driver once I got here to those races.

Coming into the job part-time without pressure and having McLaughlin keep him informed of current events helped Premat achieve his best results

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images

Premat stated that McLaughlin was all the time “very mature” for his age and stated that “I felt like I improved a lot” by working closely with him. In particular, Premat cites how he has learned to adapt his driving style; a natural left-foot brake, which was the other of most within the paddock, caused him to bounce the automobile more often than his peers who let off the gas pedal and were more patient, which also had a positive effect on tire life.

“I was very close to matching his times, even though I didn't complete the entire season,” he adds. “It just shows that my profile performed well, or actually better, with less pressure or just because maybe I had a better environment around me.”

After teaming with eventual champion Shane van Gisbergen on the 2016 Triple Eight to deliver three second-place finishes and a primary Supercars win on the Gold Coast, Premat and McLaughlin were reunited in 2017 because the Kiwi transitioned to a brand new connections between Dick Johnson Racing and the legendary Roger Penske outfit. It helped that DJR Team Penske hired Triple Eight technical director Ludo Lacroix, Premat recalled, and McLaughlin made his preferences clear.

“When Scott talked to Roger, he said, 'I want Alex, that's all,'” he says. “We have always had a very good relationship, which made our work easier.”

Their first victory together at Surfers Paradise in 2017 went a way towards making up for the frustration at Bathurst, where McLaughlin took pole position, but in a wet race the duo were forced to retire early with engine problems. Premat believes that “we could have won Bathurst three times in a row” with DJR Team Penske. In 2018, Premat also led the race for some time before eventually ending third, after which all of it got here together after switching from the FG X Falcon to the Mustang in 2019. It wasn't without controversy, nevertheless.

Despite McLaughlin's qualifying engine failing the technical inspection, the team was called up for the team order racing saga. Under the late safety automobile, the sister automobile of McLaughlin and Premat, driven by Fabian Coulthard, slowed down and smothered the group behind.

As well as benefiting Coulthard, who would avoid being double-stacked behind McLaughlin once he reached the pits, the eventual winners also clearly benefited. McLaughlin faced an extended final refuel than his rivals, but Coulthard's driving was noticeably slow (the stewards believed his engineer's instructions had been read from the script attributable to the odd mispronunciation of debris), creating a spot that ensured McLaughlin didn’t lose position and needed to restart mired in package.

McLaughlin and Premat took Bathurst by storm in 2019, throughout the Frenchman's final season Down Under

Photo: Dirk Klynsmith

“Of course, there was a bit of controversy with Fabian when I was there [looking] on TV I couldn't believe what I saw, I couldn't understand what happened,” Premat maintains. “It was kind of crazy.”

For his part, Premat believes it “would have ended the same way” and doesn’t imagine Coulthard's intervention made an enduring difference, citing the pace that kept the automobile on the sharp end throughout the day. He cherishes the memory of “the hardest race victory I ever had.”

“Winning this race is a big achievement,” he reflects. “We knew we had the automobile, the mechanics, the team, the drivers, all the things. We had the whole package for 3 years, but we didn’t implement it. So at some stage some people asked, 'will we find a way to do that?' And after all, after this race, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “

Premat says, “I still have a lot of respect and friendship for him,” as McLaughlin builds on his successful IndyCar profession with Penske. The 31-year-old has also branched out into sports automobile racing, winning last 12 months's 12 Hours of Sebring within the LMP2 class, and is now well on his strategy to constructing a CV as diverse as Premat's…

Highly respected as a pilot during his time with Supercars, Premat continues to actively train gentleman drivers across North America

Photo: Dirk Klynsmith