Championship points and praise from the team were just some of the positive takeaways Sebastian Gravlund brought from his Michelin Le Mans Series debut at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya over the weekend.

The Copenhagen-based race driver shares the 450 horsepower-strong LMP3 racer with Briton Tim Creswick, and although both drivers made their debut over the weekend, things went quite well:

“Tim has slightly less race experience than I do and also has to adjust from the GT cars he has previously driven. He did really well in the practices, and in qualifying, he was 13th fastest out of 29 cars in the LMP3 class, so already there things looked positive for us,” says Sebastian Gravlund, who also watched as his co-driver drove the first half of the nearly two-hour-long race on Saturday.

Creswick got off to a good start and advanced to 12th place, closing in on the cars ahead. However, a failed overtaking attempt caused the car to spin, and several positions were lost. Consequently, Sebastian took over the car in 18th place – but the task was clear:

“Fortunately, there was good speed in the car when I got on the track, so I was able to catch up and take back all the lost positions and drive myself up to 10th place,” says Sebastian Gravlund, who secured the pair’s first championship points despite a challenging first half of the race. During the race, Sebastian marked himself as the fifth fastest driver in the field. Quite impressive for a debutant.

“I am really satisfied with our first race, and especially my own effort. It was the first time I have raced for an hour non-stop, and it required both focus and being careful not to wear the tires too much. And there was a lot of traffic with the GT cars in the field, so I had plenty to keep an eye on,” he says.
Sebastian Gravlund has focused on formula cars until this year and before that karting. Both are run as shorter and more intense races, and it requires a completely different focus to succeed in endurance racing:

“I think it’s insanely cool! Suddenly, the focus is much more on making the bronze driver faster, and it requires compromises to get the car fast enough for both of us. Tim and I get along really well, and I’ve been able to provide him with useful feedback on his driving, so it’s a really good and educational way to race,” says Sebastian Gravlund, who looks forward to working on climbing the ladder together with the Inter Europol Competition team and Tim Creswick:

“If we can get into the top 10 on the first race weekend despite a spin, then I believe we can make quite a bit of progress before the season ends. That’s certainly what we’re all working to achieve,” he promises.

The next race in the Michelin Le Mans Series will take place in three weeks at Circuit Paul Ricard in Southern France.