Interviews

Planetlemans talks to Michael Vergers

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

Michael is back in 2007 with the Barazi-Epsilon team and he already showed what he can do with their LMP2 Zytek. Class poles in Monza and Valencia mixing with the LMP1 class and the confirmation that the car with the historical Gulf colors is certainly going to be tough to beat at Le Mans.

© Planetlemans - Gabriel Portos

PLM- Could you share with our readers a brief overview of your career?

MV- My parents moved to Spain when I was 3 years old but my father was already very interested in motor sports before that. He had founded with Hugenholtz the Stirling Moss fan club in Holland and often attended races in Zandvoort.

PLM- Did he race as well?

MV- He tried but the family could not afford it. After a few years in Spain we became neighbours next door with James Hunt. I was more or less an age where you decide what you want to do as an adult so I went karting.

PLM- And when did you start racing in cars?

MV- In 1988 we went back to Holland and I started racing in the Benelux Formula Ford championship. But I moved back to the UK because it was the time in which if you could race there you could race anywhere. And after almost 20 years I have raced in all sorts of categories: NASCAR, Formula Asia, Prototypes….all over the place! Think of India, Italy, France, the US….

PLM- Michael, will we see you on a closed Barazi LMP1 in the future?

MV- Well, that was an Epsilon Euskadi project which came from the Design Engineering school from the Basque Country. Juan (Barazi) found it too ambitious, you need to put a lot of effort in development, tests and that was not realistic. In fact I don’t think it will materialize.

PLM- So you went down the Zytek road instead…

MV- Right, and if the car performs well we could even think of moving to LMP1 with it next year. It depends on this year’s results. If we perform we might make the move to the top class.

PLM- The issues you had at Monza and Valencia are solved?

MV- Definitely. A couple of things needed some minor redesign but all is fixed.

© Planetlemans - Milo Kol

PLM- Will you make the trip to Interlagos at the end of the season?

MV- After these results we need points if we want to become champion again.

PLM- Do you think some teams will skip that race?

MV- Sure, unless they need the championship points I think some teams will choose not to attend the last race. Some people will prefer to spend the money on next year’s car.

PLM- But the organizers are paying a substantial amount of the trip…

MV- Yes, but there is a limit both for the weight and amount of air tickets so you’ll still need to cover part of the expenses yourself.

PLM- Will you also take the oportunity to race in the US then?

MV- We have talked about attending Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca.

PLM- Should be good for Zytek and sponsors, maybe they can sell some chassis there…

MV- The financing for that is not decided yet but we’d rather have Zytek not to sell cars to anyone else!!! (laughs). When the others see how fast we are everyone will want a Zytek!

PLM- Who are your toughest opponents this season?

MV- ASM, like last year but RML is also strong. They’re not too quick during trainings but during the race weekends they are really tough. Embassy has a very fast driver in Warren Hughes and let’s not forget the Bruichladdich Radical and Kruse.

PLM- What was actually your objective when you started racing?

MV- I wanted 5 Formula 1 championships like Fangio. We have the same birthday… As a matter of fact I drove in 1988 in Zandvoort against Schumacher. One of both Michaels achieved the goal and it was not me.
In a few days Michael Vergers has a goal in front of him that the other Michael never achieved in spite of his brilliant Formula 1 career: the Le Mans 24 Hours. With Juan Barazi and Karim Ojjeh on the Gulf Zytek he has a realistic chance of a top finish in LMP2. Let’s see what La Sarthe has reserved for him.

Thanks Michael and best of luck at Le Mans

milo@planetlemans.com