The news about Mathieu Vaxivière in recent days has surrounded his injury during training that will count out the rapid young Frenchman from the Spa WEC and Monza ELMS (where he was set to replace Nathaneal Berthon in the Paris Barthez Ligier).

Before that though he had sat down with Matt Fernandez to talk about the journey so far that had brought him to a full season LMP2 drive in the FIA WEC with TDS Racing.

Over the past few years, Frenchman Mathieu Vaxivière has garnered a reputation for being an eclectic driver. Between single-seater championships, WEC in LMGTE Am (in 2014 with Prospeed) and in LMP2, GT racing in the VdeV series, Ice racing in the Andros Trophée and Porsche Cup, he is what some people in the paddock might describe as an “old-school” driver:

“It definitely gives me the advantage of being able to reach the limits of a car in no time. I can’t really tell you why — I just know I’ve always enjoyed this diversity,” says Vaxivière. “When I was a teenager, I did very little go-karting. Early on I headed for Mitjets testing and for F4 competition. I eventually won the French F4 Championship in 2011, ahead of Andrea Pizzitola [currently driving for Algarve Pro] and Pierre Gasly [F1 test driver for Red Bull Racing]. Then I continued to drive single seaters [Formula Renault 2.0 in 2012/2013, Formula Renault 3.5 with Lotus F1 Junior Team and SMP Racing from 2014 to 2016], while expanding my horizon as a driver by racing GT cars. You know, back in the day, it was a little unusual to do this. Nowadays its becoming somewhat normal.”

Vaxivière’s story is intricately tied to his two current teammates in the WEC: François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard. “I met François in 2011. He has been a key sponsor in my career ever since,” he says. “Manu is an inspiration for me. I would love to be driving like him after 22 years of competition! Both are amongst my best friends. It’s great to have that relationship with my teammates inside and outside the car.”

Collard, Perrodo and Vaxivière have previously driven together in a WEC season with Prospeed Competition in 2014 (above). Unfortunately, Vaxivière had an accident in Monaco while racing a single seater that year. He suffered a significant back injury and had to withdraw from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “It will be my first ever 24 Hours of Le Mans this season. I am training hard for that event; you really have to do that for such a long race. It is necessary, especially as I know I will spend a significant amount of time driving our Oreca,” he says. “Over the winter, we really worked hard on the reliability of the car. Of course, as the car is new, we encountered some teething issues but nothing major. We also took that opportunity to let François drive as much as possible. It’s a new environment for him. Manu and I coached him a lot; he is definitely capable of this challenge. Our line-up being quite cohesive, we might surprise a few people with our performance level this season.” Unfortunately, Vaxivière recently sustained a fractured foot and ligament damage during his fitness training.

As for every 24 Hours of Le Mans, this year’a effort will require impeccable traffic management. “It is crucial to stay out of trouble. That is the essence of endurance racing when you think about it,” he reflects. “We won’t have any issues with P1 cars. Although we might come close to them at the end of the straights, they accelerate way harder than us. We won’t have issues with GTs either, as it will be easier to overtake them this season with our additional 100 bhp. The toughest part will really be to follow other P2 cars. You can be half a second quicker per lap, but you lose a lot of air load if you get too close and then you struggle to overtake. In some ways, racing other P2 cars has become very similar to racing single seaters. Still, we’re confident for this race. We are clearly not the fastest LMP2 driver line-up overall, but if we don’t make any mistakes and if the car is reliable, we have a good chance of being on the podium after 24 hours.”