MARSHALL PRUETT: I thought the first combined WEC/IMSA race last year was a great start to the relationship with Circuit of The Americas, but there weren’t as many fans here as anyone would have liked. There’s been a big push this year though the “Lone Star Le Mans” promotional campaign – what’s a realistic goal, and what would it take for you to consider this year’s event a success?

GERARD NEVEU: OK, it’s exactly the right approach now. Last year when we came here, we expected too much and had too much confidence. We said, OK, this is USA, we know it very well, there is big knowledge of the motorsport, we have partners from IMSA and the facilities are absolutely unreal for a racetrack in the USA. We thought it would be easy. In the end, it didn’t work because in the USA when you want to make a new big event, you have to convince the people they have to go there. And it was something new here at COTA; they have Formula 1, they have MotoGP, they have X Games, but this was totally new.

So I think that we were not on the right lane last year – we raced on Sunday morning: bad idea. We spent a full weekend and had a big problem with the promotion. So we’ve learned a lot and we feel at the same time that we have to stay [at COTA] because the race was amazing, the drivers really like the track, the media really liked to work here, the city downtown is a real entertainment city for everyone to visit. For all this reason we think this place is a good place to be.

What we did and we needed to do is discuss with the people from COTA and with the people from IMSA during the winter and push a lot on the promotional side. And say OK, we have to upgrade, we have to increase the level of the event. We are not exactly where we want to be, because there’s a long way, for sure. Sebring is not a two-year-old event, it is 50 years, so the idea here is to say if this year all the figures are better than last year, it means we are on the good way and we have to continue. We have to – if we do that, it will be the proof that we made a good choice and now we have to still continue to work. If we make all the people happy coming here this weekend, it means that next year we will have more people again, and again and again.

I can see that this year there is absolutely no hospitality available in the pit buildings. It was not the case last year. Completely full. I can say that we have three American teams joining the WEC for the race, which is new. And I really believe that the USA, if you don’t have an American driver or American team or American brand, you cannot ask for the same interest for the fan.

And we have Porsche, coming back and it probably is the most famous brand in motorsport. In the end it helps a lot. We have a car corral this year with more than 400 Porsches and 200 Corvettes and 100 Audi and 50 Ferrari… Last year, it was not the case.

MP: How are ticket sales for this year’s event?

GN: We have already sold more than last year on the Sunday, for sure. But we are far from the target we are expecting. But we have to also accept to grow the event year after year. For example, I had dinner in the city downtown two days ago and I went to a restaurant and I discussed with the waitress and she said, ‘Ah, you are here for the race, for the night race.’ This is new, because last year when you discussed with anybody in the city, nobody knew about it. We are [progressing] in a good way, and we have to continue; it’s a long way.

MP: Are you looking for financial success alone to keep the series coming back to COTA?

GN: It’s exactly the same situation as the audience. If we compare with the other audiences we are having around the world, we are far from the same. But we increase. So the idea when we stay in Austin is not for the financial success now – we try to make sure there is no big damage but this is not the place where we earn a lot of money, this is an investment for the future. The idea is not to worry about money now; it is to find a very good slot in the USA and to make sure that we build a very nice event that will be right for the future. We do not make money first; if there is no successful event, how do you have successful finances? Impossible. If you want to make money, make the event first. This is what we’re trying to do.

MP: Would you consider other venues in North America – one of the classic tracks like a Laguna Seca or Road America (ABOVE), maybe something in Canada, or somewhere between here and Brazil?

GN: Well, we are looking, we are taking consideration for different opportunities. Sometimes you have to make sure that we can add one more date in the calendar, first. You must see if there is a good slot for the logistics, and third, that this is something where the financial risk is limited. Fourth point, the manufacturers and the partners must be happy about the local market, which is very important. You have to take into consideration all these [things].

At this moment, there’s many discussions around the world, because we have to say that in the last one and a half years, we start to receive calls from different countries interested about hosting the WEC. Which is different if you compare with three years ago when I had to take my bags and ask them, ‘Do you have some time for me?’ Now it’s a little bit different. We cannot make everybody happy. We have to be careful about the paddock and we are discussing with them to see if they are ready for additional date or not.

We have to be careful about the calendar also, because there are some places where we race now and we are not totally happy, so we can change. Which is not the case in Austin. Austin we have decided to stay, and there are others where we already established new contracts. This is the case for Bahrain, for example. We engaged in discussion with Silverstone, with Fuji. Shanghai is looking very good. But there is a place where you always looking if we continue or not and if we replace by another one or we add one more date, this is the job.

A second date in USA I’m not sure of, because we can focus everything there [at COTA]. A second date somewhere in North America someday, why not, but nothing now.

MP: The World Motorsports Council recently announced plans to reduce costs in the WEC – what is the priority for managing costs, and is there a priority for managing P1 costs versus GT costs, or is it an equal concern?

GN: I really believe that this is a responsibility for each member in the paddock to control the situation we’re facing. We have to be reasonable and take into consideration the financial side. Probably 10 years ago it wasn’t the case, but this is the real true world now. What we try to do as a promoter is to provide all the right conditions to help the members of the paddock work in a better financial way.

A few weeks ago we created a working group and we included all the different members of the paddock to say: What can we do to help you reduce the costs and to make sure that you have good visibility and that you have a good return in the future? But we have to take into consideration all the different people in our paddock. Huge teams, private teams, big manufacturers, promoters, staff, everybody. The idea is if everybody is working in the same direction, that we have to control the costs, it can be a big help. That is the target. But we cannot make the decision for them. The manufacturers and everyone must want to agree. For example, I’m in charge for the organization, so logistics and transportation is a very important side. I’m looking after that. But regarding the cost to develop an engine or a new chassis, I cannot control that directly.

Only the WEC’s regulations can help for that. We just make sure that the technical department, the people who create the future regulation, never say people can do whatever they want. We have to make sure that all the new rules take into consideration the fact that we cannot spend money like this.

MP: Interestingly, the most expensive class, LMP1, is thriving with new manufacturers coming in – Porsche this year, Nissan next year – but as we saw with the old World Sports Prototype Championship series that was brilliant but failed after a few years, the costs were out of control. So how do you save the big manufacturers from themselves – from spending themselves out of the series?

GN: Because with the regulation, for sure, we are exploring many different options for controlling that. What we have to consider for the manufacturers, first they didn’t come just for the budget, they came just because the technical regulation we offer was the best stage for them or the best platform to demonstrate the quality of their own technology. But never forget that Audi and Porsche or Nissan or anybody, any manufacturers, are here to sell cars at the end. That is their target. They are selling cars. Winning the race is one thing, winning races is another thing, but selling the cars, this is the first target for these manufacturers.

So they consider that regarding the amount they invest, and a good example could be Porsche and Audi, but especially Audi for the last 10 years, and the figures they are selling with the cars around the world, this form of racing is a good investment. Very profitable. There is a lot of championships where you have to spend probably 50 percent more than we are doing with the WEC, and I’m not sure that you sell 50 percent more cars from it.

The idea is just we have to find a good balance. So we start to introduce that with the test session limitations in the future. We won’t let teams do a lot of running and spend a lot of money in this area. We ask the same thing for tire manufacturers. But this decision can work and this good attitude can work only if it is admit by all the parties. It means we need to find a compromise and that all the people adapt.

MP: I wrote in the latest issue of RACER magazine that the WEC’s P1 category has surpassed Formula 1 in terms of outright technology and creativity – how do you position the series to promote the amazing cars without angering your friends at the FIA who look after F1’s promotional needs…

GN: We cannot compare. First of all, Formula 1 is the top championship in the world, there is nothing to say. The media value, the visibility, the reputation, the fact that everybody knows Formula 1 because it is a long story. If we speak about Formula 1, it has been a championship since the ’50s. We are not yet three with the WEC. If we’re able to have the same level as Formula 1 by now, it means there is a big problem…

I believe that we have just to follow our own road. Don’t try to compete or to fight with Formula 1 because you will lose your energy. We have just to follow our own road and apply our spirit, which is very important. It means that, from my point of view, what we have is better than I can see in any other motorsport championship. Big fighting, incredible cars, fantastic drivers. You and me, we know that. We sincerely believe this is true. And I think that all the people that are coming for the race agree about this idea. We have to keep this content and we have to just now open the door and to make sure the maximum amount of people will know, will learn that. But it takes some time.

I think that the only thing we can believe is we have to continue to do the best job we can provide with all the partners racing in the series. We have just to focus on our own story. I think that we are probably far from there now, but less far than when we started the WEC.

The only thing we have to be careful is at the end of the season we have many statistics that we monitor. If everything is in the right direction and I have only green lights, it means we are going the right way.

A good example is here [at COTA]. If you compare the event this year to the event from last year, it’s nothing alike – completely different, better. The quality of the paddock is different. The quality of the grid is not the same. We have some surprises for you for next season, but we have to wait. I’m doing some teasing for that, but this is the kind of event where the WEC makes its differences very appealing to the fans. We have cars with the highest technology, many manufacturers involved, and this is our identity, very different from Formula 1.

This is long-term program, very long term. We are speaking of endurance, no? So the winner is not the fastest car on the first lap, it is the guy who crossed the finish line first at the end of the race. We have just started our race now and there are many laps to go.​