Emmanuel Esnault (Lamborghini Iron Lynx): "The WEC and IMSA regulations are my new bedside books"

What will your role be at Lamborghini Iron Lynx?

To supervise the Lamborghini Iron Lynx LMDh project. René (Rosin, boss of Prema, who will be in charge of operations) was until now the team principal for the LMP2 project in WEC, but he can't be everywhere. WEC, Formula 2, Formula 3... The programmes are numerous. The job title hasn't yet been decided, but I'll be in charge of everything to do with on-track activities.

Why have you come to Bahrain?

I'm officially starting at the beginning of January, but I came here as an observer to get to know the team and see how people are organised. From what I've been able to see, the Prema / Iron Lynx team is well organised. It's very promising.

How long have you and Prema known each other?

I've known Prema for about twenty years. Back then, I worked for Renault Sport on the World Series by Renault project. Prema Powerteam - as it was called at the time - was competing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. That was in 2005, and they won the championship with Kamui (Kobayashi). The team then moved up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2008 (with Miguel Molina and Alvaro Barba). That's where I met Angelo (Rosin, René's father and the team's founder) and Grazia (Troncon, team manager). We've always had a good relationship and Prema remains one of the finest organisations in Europe. It's a benchmark.

What did you do after your adventure at Renault?

I joined McLaren at the end of 2012 as Support Operation Manager. I managed all the operations that ran alongside the F1 team: the demonstration team, testing, asset management and management of the young drivers' programmes. In 2013 I became Race Team Coordinator, which meant that I managed the race team's logistics during the Grands Prix.

I joined McLaren Applied Technologies from 2017 to 2019 as Track Operations Manager for everything electronic. This involved F1, Nascar and setting up the Formula E organisation with the battery systems. At the same time, my mission for McLaren Racing was to set up the IndyCar project and then, from October 2017, I represented McLaren at the FIA / ACO Technical Working Groups to build the Hypercar regulations that we know today. As the McLaren project did not come to fruition, I was given the opportunity to join Texys Group (a company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets sensors under its Texense brand) at the end of 2019 as Managing Director until October 2023.

Have you always enjoyed endurance racing?

I'm from Le Mans and my first race as a team member was the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans as a volunteer with Courage Compétition. I was cleaning rims. I know where I come from and Le Mans remains one of the jewels in the crown for me. When Prema approaches you for an endurance project at the highest level with a manufacturer as emblematic as Lamborghini, it doesn't leave anyone indifferent. The planets aligned and it was an opportunity that was hard to turn down.

What will your mission be over the coming weeks?

To get the teams in place for both WEC and IMSA, to take stock of the technical situation, to see where we are, where we want to go and what needs to be improved. Finally, the WEC and IMSA regulations will become my new bedside books.