I finally took some time to give you some updates… nothing pretty new though but I hope you appreciate the effort! ;-)

I know most of you have been following the recent news in the press and on the net… in Wintertime, people talk a lot… and lot of things happen obviously outside of the cockpit!

While I’m writing, I still have no clue what 2010 will be about but one thing I’m sure is that I’ll be at the wheel of a car… no matter what its color is!
Lately I spent some time by the sea in Misano, Italy. We went there with Peugeot to do some tyre testing with Michelin. I just love this kind of tests! The season is over, we discovered a new track, we had no reference and we worked… a lot! No audience, no strass, and no glamour… just what we really like about our job: driving… usually fast! We covered loads of laps and I was able to give back a lot of comments and information. We usually started pretty early, around 8am and finished late… sometimes very late, like midnight!

Sometimes, during these testing sessions you just have the feeling to fly around the track… some other times, it’s more like you missed the plane!

We never know what spec of tyres we have on our car. We only get a first taste as soon as we enter the track. Only PSA and Michelin engineers know what tyres we have on when they unleash us on track! It used to be something stressful but now it is not anymore. I am used to this challenging exercise and I am focused on my job. I deliver the performance people expect from me and I remain focused on the tyres’ behavior to explain it later to the engineers. Full wet, wet, slicks… we tested lots of several types and it was just like Christmas for me!

Winter is also the time of the year for public relations. We meet our partners, these guys who are not part of the team basically speaking but who work their ass off to make everything efficient on your car! So you change your overall for an official Peugeot shirt and you are ready for autographs sessions and Q&As. Not really easy as this is not what you’re initially designed for but I keep training and I really appreciate meeting the guys! There are always loads of things to learn!
Winter is also the time of the year when you can relax and have fun! See the weekend we spent with Nico and Stéphane in Le Mans driving the Peugeot 207! OK, we didn’t win, we didn’t even score a podium but we had such a great fun!

At the minute, I’m preparing my bag pack to go to Spain with Peugeot. We are doing some more test on a new track, near Barcelona and Valencia. Although I will only drive one day for an endurance test, I’m pretty excited as it will be my first time there and we have quite a lot of things to test. For us, 2010 is just around the corner!
Winter is also the perfect time to enjoy your new or old toys! So next to my overall, in my bag, I’ve put my Alpinestars material and I’m really looking forward driving my 450 KTM in the South of France!

So you see… I keep myself busy!

And if you were about to ask about F1 and so on… nothing new at the moment. If I get the opportunity to drive on of these cars anytime soon, I’ll be absolutely delighted for sure! If not, no big deal… I’m sure I’ll find some very interesting challenges to take up! But be sure I’ll keep you posted guys! I should be able to give you some updates before Xmas.

Talk to you soon. Have fun and be careful as Winter is also the time when trees crossed the roads!

FKM