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Alex Prémat enjoying life as an endurance driver in V8 Supercars

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French driver Alexandre Prémat scored his best result at Bathurst this weekend with fifth, sharing the Garry Rogers Motorsport Volvo S60 with Scott McLaughlin, and says he’s enjoying the role of an endurance co-driver in the series, but has no plans to switch back full-time.

Prémat, who has switched back to endurance racing in the Blancpain GT Series in Europe after leaving his full-time ride with the team at the end of 2013, says he prefers the endurance lifestyle, not least of which as it gives him the opportunity to race at the more exciting events on the V8 Supercars Championship calendar

“I really like the enduro part,” said Prémat to TouringCarTimes. “I don’t think I’d come back here for the full-season, all the seats here are pretty blocked, and they have drivers coming up like (Cameron) Waters or (Chris) Pither who are doing DVS who can jump more easily to the main series than I was able to.”

“If I had to come back to the main series I’d also have to move back to Australia which would be a pretty big move, as now I’m living in Las Vegas.”

“I really like doing just the enduro part as I like Sandown, Bathurst and the Gold Coast, that doesn’t mean I don’t like Adelaide or those kinds of tracks either, but Winton, Ipswich, they’re maybe not the kind of race tracks that a like, but if I can do just the enduros for the next five years that’d be good.”

Prémat, who also raced in the DTM between 2007 and 2010, also praised the closeness of the V8 Supercars Championship, but also that it makes the Australian series additionally challenging.

“It’s completely different from WTCC or DTM or the championships we have in Europe, or even the Blancpain,” he said.

“There are 24 cars with the same tenth who are able to win a race during the season, so that makes this series very unique. In DTM now, you see the results are only about weight. If you lose the race before you get no weight and then you win the next one, so this is very bizarre as a championship. While in WTCC you see Citroën are just flying because they are too fast. Here during the races you feel a lot of pressure, as you know all the cars are the same speed and you need to be very strong mentally to do the race.”