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Before heading off to Oschersleben next September 5-6 for the next Formula 2 rendezvous Julien will continue an eclectic season by taking the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R in the 1000-km Nürburgring endurance race, next August 23. Julien came 2nd in the GT1 category in the Le Mans 24-Hour race and the team has invited him back to stand in for Luc Alphand, who is out of action following a motorbike accident early last July. The Clairay/Goueslard/Jousse crew is hoping for a repeat of its win in Portimao which would wrap up an early title in the Le Mans Series. What a glorious present that would make for the former skiing champion as he celebrates his 44th birthday!

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FIA Formula Two Championship

Rounds 9 & 10, Donington Park (UK) August 15-16 2009 

Beat all Jousse 

One pole position, one win and two fastest lap times! Just a fortnight after notching up his first success in endurance racing at the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette in the Algarve 1000km race, Julien Jousse was in crushing form as he dominated the 10th round of the FIA Formula Two championship in Donington. The second half of the season started brilliantly for the man from the sunny south of France, as he eased into 3rd in the drivers’ standings. Of course, the more you have the more you want so he won't rest on his laurels! 

A full day for testing was set aside by the race organisers on the Tuesday before the meeting took place. Clocking the 9th fastest time in that session might seem a modest achievement but it paved the way for Julien to attack the weekend in great shape. His groundwork was good and he proved himself perfectly at ease at the wheel of what is a rather out of the ordinary car. In fact, the Williams-Audi turbo F2 car is similar to the current crop of F1 cars in that you can control the down force of the front wing from the cockpit. This gives you more control over the balance of the car, especially going through the faster sections of the circuit. 

The idea was to build on this confidence during qualifying. In the first session Julien clocked the 4th fastest lap, just 31/1000ths behind the 2nd-placed man. He pulled out all the stops in the second session in which an impeccably managed drive earned him his first-ever pole position in Formula 2 racing. 

Julien will want to forget Race 1 for the mishap with the pit limiter in lap 2 and a contact with Hohenthal. On the plus side, a climb from 12th to 7th place, three clean passing manoeuvres and the fastest lap of the race put a smile back on his face. Race 2 went a lot more smoothly. Julien led the race from lap 1 to 25 with disconcerting ease. His closest rival came home a massive 15 seconds behind him at the finish! This is far and away the biggest winning margin to date this season. 

"My main worry was getting off to a good start. This time I used my boost, unlike in race 1. I started to pull away from the field only for the safety car to bunch everyone up again. After doing well at the restart I opened up a lead again. I made sure I maintained my rhythm until the end of the race but I didn't want to settle for just a few seconds lead. It felt so good in this car that I attacked even harder, victory in itself was not enough!" Three laps from the end Julien shaved a revelatory 7/10ths off the fastest lap in the race. He was also fastest through all three segments of the track! He now has Wickens firmly in his sights just two ponts ahead of him in the championship, although Soucek is still a clear leader. But where there's a will there's a way! 

 Rounds 3 & 4, Brno (Czech Republic),

June 20-21 2009 

Maiden F2 podium for Julien Jousse 

Julien Jousse is the only French driver racing in the revolutionary new FIA Formula 2 championship. Julien eased into joint 3rd in the standings after bagging more points in the Czech Republic than any of his rivals. At the Brno event, the man from the Var region of France came 5th in Race 1 before climbing onto the second rung of the Race 2 podium. 

One weekend is much like the next - well almost. Driving an endurance Corvette C6.R in the Le Mans 24-hour race is not quite the same as a Formula 2 sprint in a Williams-Audi but in each case a podium place awaited Julien at the finish. The tight teamwork at Luc Alphand Aventures contrasts sharply with the philosophy of the F2 championship. There are no teams as such in this category. The drivers are all allocated identical cars prepared and entered exclusively by MotorSport Vision. 

Le Mans and Brno had at least one other feature in common - both events were preceded by open practice sessions run under wet conditions, with calamitous results for the French driver. In the first session, the track dried out a lot quicker than expected, much to the detriment of Julien's rain tyres, meaning that they were next to useless in the second session, which took place in a downpour. The first full qualifying session hardly went any better. "I got into a good rhythm in the rain but unfortunately I started the session on tyres in which the pressure was too high, so I lost several places in the final minutes." 

Starting 11th on the grid for race 1, Julien soon clicked into his stride on a drying track. He even clocked a superb 2nd fastest lap in the race, as he eased himself into 5th place. "I did most of the hard work by getting off to a good start. After that I just tried to make sure I stayed on the track!" Which is more than can be said for a number of others. Julien could look ahead with confidence because he achieved this creditable result on worn tyres. This meant he had two sets of new ones available for the second day of competition. 

The weather was dry at last when the field took to the track for Sunday's qualifying session. There was hardly anything to choose between the leaders. Julien was very quick through certain segments, and fastest of the field through sector 3, but was only able to snatch 5th fastest full lap in his final lap. The front-line pair of drivers made life easier for him in Race 2 as they both burnt out their clutches. "I had to make sure not to hit them, though. I fought hard with Soucek during lap 1 and spent the rest of the race just a few lengths behind him in 3rd position. Then when De Marco spun off I moved up into 2nd." 

This was Julien's first podium and it brought his tally for the weekend up to 12 points. No-one was able to better this. He now lies 3rd in the championship standings, equal with Aleshin, the tough Russian he managed to beat last year in Barcelona on his way to his runner-up medal in the Formula Renault 3.5 class. «I played it safe and steady, a bit like I did in Le Mans! That endurance experience was a good source of inspiration because I didn't put a foot wrong in this race, whereas others showed they are not infallible. F2 is pretty cut-throat and the car is tough to drive but I don't give up easily. I'm doing all I can to progress. Philippe Streiff, my mentor and former F2 and F1 driver, watched me on Eurosport, which broadcast some great coverage of the race from grid to podium. But Philippe told me he would be coming to support me personally in my next race in Spa-Francorchamps!"

Le Mans 24 Hours

Corvette C6.R Luc Alphand Aventures #73 LM GT1

June 13-14 2009 

Juicy podium for Julien Jousse 

Julien Jousse executed his mission perfectly in what was his grand debut in the world's biggest race. He made not a single mistake as he and team-mates Yann Clairay and Xavier Maassen took their Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette to second place in the LM GT1 category. To crown it all, Pierre Fillon, vice-president of the ACO, awarded the man from the south of France the Jean Rondeau prize for being the most talented, courageous and tenacious French rookie. 

This season Julien is the only Frenchman competing in the brand new FIA Formula 2 championship, which the federation has set up as an F1 feeder. From one week to the next, however, Julien left the confines of his Williams/Audi single-seater for the completely different surroundings of endurance racing. The least we can say is that he didn't choose the easiest arena or the smallest race! After just one session of practice at the wheel of the Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R over in Dijon, Julien checked into the Le Mans paddock wide-eyed with wonder, ready to live the dream... 

Open practice and qualifying soon brought Julien back down to earth with a jolt. "We hit quite a few technical issues. To make matters worse it rained on Wednesday, which meant we weren't able to do as much practice as we would have liked. Bear in mind that I had loads to learn on this unforgiving circuit. In the Corvette we lap at over 205kph on average and we go into and through turns at very high speed. I was very worried about reliability but the race went wonderfully well, we had no problems at all. None of us made any mistakes on the track. That said, Yann, Xavier and I had to be very vigilant. When you're driving a GT at Le Mans the big bugbear is the LMP1 prototypes at night. It's OK during the day, you can judge their speed and anticipate their manoeuvres but at night you can only just make out their headlamps with the rear-view camera at the back of the Corvette." 

There was hardly a whisker between the two Luc Alphand Aventures Corvettes until night fell. They were lapping like clockwork in 3rd and 4th places until a Lola Aston Martin literally propelled car No. 72 at 200kph into the wall at Tertre Rouge turn. So the crew of youngsters in No. 73 had to meet the challenge of getting the solitary remaining Luc Alphand Aventures car safely home across the line. Fortunately no incident marred their progress and they raced on to take the 2nd spot on the GT1 category podium. About two hours from home the gearbox of one of the two works Corvettes gave out. For Yann, Xavier and Julien, who was at the wheel for the home run, this was an unexpected bonus! The works cars have engine improvements and better aerodynamics than the privately-entered models. "It's a fabulous feeling when you take the chequered flag! All those people in the stands, the pits invaded, the marshals waving during the lap of honour... I'm definitely coming back here next year if I can!"