Callum Ilott says his time in GT racing, including the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend, is a valuable experience in his career, even if he ends up in Formula 1.
The Ferrari junior makes his debut at the French endurance classic as part of Iron Lynx’s three-car GTE-Am commitment alongside Matteo Cressoni and Rino Mastronardi.
The 22-year-old is also under contract as a test and reserve driver for the Alfa Romeo F1 team and could possibly still fight for a racing seat with the team.
Even if he eventually ends up in Formula 1, Ilott believes that his appearances in the GT World Challenge Europe and this weekend at Le Mans will be valuable lessons for his further career, also with a view to Ferrari’s upcoming Le Mans hypercar program .
“It’s experience for every route I go,” Ilott told MotorsportWeek.com. “At the moment I am of course driving GTs, but my development and my focus is still on F1. There is still a chance and I am still in this environment. “
“But depending on the coming years and of course with the hypercar program, it makes more sense to have GT experience and to be able to get into the hypercar if necessary than not to have it.”
Ilott also shared his experiences with sports cars, saying that being in an environment apart from Formula 2 is good for him.
“It was actually very educational and very good to do something different this year. I’ve seen the whole junior single-seater environment, which is pretty stressful – every weekend you fight for your career, for your life. Here it’s like a new start, relearning and something else. ”
“Obviously, with the power and speed that I have, I’m off to a good starting point, but there are a lot of little things that you have to learn with the LMP2s, you know, with the [traffic] Management and everything, it’s a different style of racing. Even with the bronze drivers. It’s something that I have to adapt to. Not that I didn’t experience it, but in a different way. “
“So it’s much better for me to have this experience, almost a year of less pressure in my head. Because if I should stick to the GT route, for example, I will probably have the endurance route that I have this year that I have next year, if I wanted to do it with more options.
“And when it comes down to it, we’ll have the hypercar the following year, so that’s my choice.”
With various options on the table, Ilott explains that he enjoys exploring multiple directions in his career and even suggests a possible move towards racing in IndyCar.
“I could go to America and play Indy if I wanted to and if I got the opportunity I wouldn’t say no to Formula 1 either. So I’m in a somewhat fun situation where there are a couple of options and a couple of different routes. “
“But in my opinion, it’s always best to have the experience where you can get it. And what better way to do this in one of the most competitive GT championships in the world in the GT World Challenge.
“We are at the top. Obviously things went well before Spa. Unfortunately, we were out in Spa and missed a lot of points. And then to Le Mans, which is the most competitive endurance race in my opinion.
“So in the situation I am in, I can’t really complain. And you know, I’m actually enjoying it a lot and a lot more than I expected at the beginning of the year.
“Because at the beginning of the year, single-seaters always have this ‘Maybe I can do GT races later’, but it’s good.”
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