INTERVIEW OF : NORMAN NATO

#1 Introduce yourself 

Norman Nato, 28 years old, born in Cannes in the south of France and new driver for Realteam Racing in 2021 

 

#2 What were your beginnings in motorsports? 

I started with karting at the age of nine, my dad was in rallying, so I was always a rally fan from a very young age, I used to go with him to the races and actually I wanted to become a rally driver and not a circuit driver.

 

#3 Why did you choose endurance?

I went step by step, i.e. karting for years, which allowed me to prove myself and to climb the ladder to the top which is single-seater racing and to climb the ladder to Formula 2. It was not possible for me to go to Formula 1, the places are now very expensive and very complicated to access. So for me, the logical next step was to go into endurance racing with the Le Mans 24 Hours, which every driver in the world dreams about. So it is of course an objective as a driver, and it was quite simple for me to turn to endurance racing in view of the cars and the number of drivers that there are in the world championship or even in the European championship. It was quite simple for me to turn to Endurance. And, as a French driver, to be able to participate, dream and fight for a podium in Le Mans, even to win this mythical race, it's necessarily an additional motivation. 

 

And Endurance, compared to single-seater racing, is also a team spirit. In single-seaters, a lot of team work is obviously done, but when I say team work, I mean it's more like a car that you have to share with other drivers, it's a completely different approach. And for my part, I have always liked to do team sports, soccer, basketball and that kind of thing. I did basketball when I was younger, for 6 years, it's always something I liked to do, and it's something I also like in endurance. Having to share, push each other and help each other is something that I also like in endurance, having a human adventure.

 

#4 What motivates you in this new season with Realteam?

The fact of having a teammate like Loïc, we all know Loïc's track record, we all know his career, he's a driver who took part in many Le Mans races and he won the Le Mans 24 Hours. For someone like me who has yet to prove himself in endurance racing, it's great to be able to be next to someone like Loïc to continue to learn and use his experience. For me it's also to continue to take the experience in Endurance, it's great, he's a French driver too. And then we have the challenge of being in Pro Am, so Esteban who goes from LMP3 to LMP2, there will also be a lot of other crews in this case and it's a challenge with Loïc to make Esteban discover LMP2, the 24 hours of Le Mans and to make him progress as quickly as possible because clearly the objective is to go for podiums and win races. It's a challenge for the three of us and for the team in general with TDS which is a top team. We have a great crew, on the other car at Jumbo who will also be in Pro Am, so they will be in our team but it will also be a competitor. We have a lot of work to do and it's a great adventure and I'm really looking forward to attacking all this together. From the first contacts that we could have all together it goes really well, there is a really good atmosphere and I have no doubt that it will go very well and that we will spend a very good year all together and let's hope that it will end on the first step of the podium.

 

#5 How do you imagine this season 2021?

This season 2021 makes me think of this period a little bit complicated of Covid so here we have already lived it in 2020, we did a Le Mans in September, which had never happened I think so it was a little special without spectators. Once in the car you are concentrated, you try to do the maximum. I finished second last year at the Le Mans 24 Hours and to be on the podium only with teams at the foot of the podium and not all the crowds that there normally are at the Le Mans 24 Hours and these paddocks and campsites that are full for a week, the parade of drivers is something we really missed. What's scary is that 2021 at the track is going to be about that. Recently we heard that Sebring would be replaced by Portimao. Portimao is good news because it's a very nice track so it's great, but Sebring is still a great race, it was a 12 hour race so we're obviously disappointed not to go there. We are nevertheless very satisfied that the WEC makes its maximum so that we can continue to make our job and travel on different continents. For that it is necessary to thank all the organizers and all our teams. For us the drivers it's in simple quotation marks, that is to say that it's the planning that changes but the biggest part of the work is for all the teams who have to organize everything for the mechanics, etc. I want to say on a Realteam plan, we have a nice organized program, we have a nice crew, so the rest, I have no doubt that it will be a great year. We'll have to adapt as we did in 2020, but we should consider ourselves lucky to be able to race and also to have fun because it's something important that we sometimes tend to forget. I'm really looking forward to it! 

 

#6 What's your favourite circuit?  

My favourite circuit is the Le Mans 24 Hours.