A veteran of 256 Grand Prix starts, notwithstanding a host of other races in other categories, Riccardo Patrese knows his way around Spa Francorchamps, at which he also has notable endurance racing experience having taken a Group C Lancia LC2 to victory in unfortunate circumstances at the 1985 1000Kms.

A driver from the old school of ‘talent first’ motorsport, the amiable Italian has made an intriguing return to the Ardennes circuit for the 24 Hours this weekend. Here he’s been driving Castrol Honda Racing’s Acura Honda NSX GT3, run by JAS Motorsport, and remains animated about his return to a race seat.

“I was approached by Alessandro Mariani (JAS Motorsport CEO), who I’ve known a long time, about this drive and for me it’s a chance to do what I still love, but also to show my son, who is 12 years old now and into karting, what his Dad used to do all his life..!”

His career spanning three decades, it is nevertheless 25 years since Patrese’s last race here.

“Things have changed a huge amount of course. Motor sport is a different world today compared even with the last time I went racing, let alone my time in Formula 1.

“When I started racing it was normal to be doing more than one race series at any time. You would take anything that came along because it paid money if you were winning. Back then it was the reverse of how it is today; if you were fast and winning races people would invest money in you to develop your career.

“Now it’s all about how much money you can bring to a team and the commercial aspects are almost more important than your talent.”

When I started racing it was normal to be doing more than one race series at any time

This takes us onto the variety of machinery in which Patrese has spent time behind the wheel. Patrese was the first Grand Prix driver to reach 200 starts, and indeed held a record for the greatest number recorded until Rubens Barrichello took over, and then Michael Schumacher exceeded that on his return to the sport. But Patrese also has notable experience in sports cars in his early career, as he happily recalls.

“I was coming up through Formula 3 and then mixing Formula 2 drives with my early Formula 1 career, but then Lancia approached me about driving the Beta Monte Carlo Group 5 car at Le Mans, which I did in 1981, before driving the LC2 in 1982.

“The Beta was a quick car, but quite unreliable and physical to drive. But that led to me getting involved with their Group C programme and the LC2.

“That was a very quick car and great to drive. Actually I was surprised it was entered for the Le Mans 24 hours, it was much more of a sprint car. But it was a different experience back then… heavy brakes, heavy steering, manual gear changes: very physical.

“The Lancia prototype was a great car and I enjoyed it, I remember the wins in Kyalami and, of course here at Spa (in 1985) though that was sad with Stefan’s (Bellof) accident… we always qualified well but it was all about beating the Porsches.

“We came close in the championship in 1985, but they were very well prepared, with drivers like Derek Bell, Jacky Ickx, and had more reliability. The LC2 was close to the speeds of an F1 car back then, but putting an F1 car against an endurance car today there would be more of a difference in the downforce.”

An outing with the Nissan R390 at Le Mans in 1997 is dismissed by the Italian as an experience probably best ignored, the car being less than well-prepared and unreliable in the race. But it is proof that racing is something Patrese can’t simply put on the shelf, and the fire clearly still burns, albeit with realistic expectations now.

“I know inside I still have the ability to be quick, but it takes time. I am a Bronze driver but there are many really quick Bronze drivers out there who do this every week. It’s not just getting back up to speed in the car, but the challenges with the regulations in this racing now are very complicated. Driving the car I can deal with, but understanding the many ways in which you can go wrong and lose time through penalties for me is the biggest challenge.

“In my time in F1, particularly with Williams – which at that time had the most advanced machinery on the grid – I had adaptive suspension, traction control and lots of technical innovation that meant I had to work with data, so it’s not hard for me to work with the engineers. But the amount of data and feedback the team requires, even in a GT3 car, is a big change from when I last raced. Just the things on the steering wheel are like my son’s Playstation!”

The big thing here is to take Eau Rouge flat, but in these cars I’m not sure that is always possible.

“The NSX GT3 is actually a really nice car to drive. It gives good feedback, is a comfortable race car and I feel very relaxed, confident and safe behind the wheel. In my time the cars were very physical, but this era has lots of driver aids. The car brakes well and has good traction out of the slow corners. I just need more laps: we tested before coming here, but there is no substitute for Spa which is largely unchanged from when I last raced here.

“Out there in the Bronze session though, it was starting to come back. The big thing here is to take Eau Rouge flat, but in these cars I’m not sure that is always possible. But that is my reference; every lap I was going through there and looking at my revs as I went up the hill: each lap that was going higher and higher, and so the adrenaline starts to come back.

“This is a unique race and I like the atmosphere. I have a good team around me, it’s friendly and without pressure. Dealing with the night running is quite a challenge as there is mostly no circuit lighting – Bertrand and Esteban are very quick and I know my job is to keep the car out of trouble rather than matching their times.

“That’s my target and I’ll be very happy if we finish and can look back on a good performance.”