British driver Alex Kapadia is a familiar face in the ELMS and Michelin Le Mans Cup paddocks, having competed in either or both series in the LMP3 category since 2016. In that time Kapadia has had several visits to the podium.
Alex Kapadia also has plenty of silverware from other championship, with championship titles in the Britcar Endurance Championship in 2021, the Sports Prototype Cup in 2020, the SP3 title in the 2010 24H Series and the 2009 Radical European Master Series SR8 LM title to name a few.
This year Alex Kapadia in back with RLR MSport with two new teammates Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock for another try at lifting the ELMS LMP3 title.
Q: Looking back at the 2021 season, how would you sum up your year with RLR MSport?
Alex Kapadia: “The 2021 European Le Mans season was frustrating. With Mike (Benham), Malthe (Jakobsen), myself and the RLR MSport team, we had all the ingredients to challenge for the championship, which we proved in the opening round in Barcelona, where we were two seconds off the eventual race winner, despite serving a drive-through.
“We went into the following rounds with the mindset that we could win if we performed as we did in Barcelona, but we were taken out in three races, and I wouldn’t apportion any blame on us. We certainly had the pace in both qualifying and race-trim, but we learnt a lot and will apply everything we did right this year.”
Q: This season you will be joined by bronze drivers Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock in the no5 Ligier-Nissan.Can you tell us a bit about your two teammates?
AK: “Nick (Adcock) has been around motor racing paddocks for a very long time, having competed for over 20 years. It’s great to be working with him because he has pace. My job will be to help him extract the maximum from the Ligier JSP320 LMP3 and himself.
“Michael (Jensen), on the other hand, has only been racing for six years and he hasn’t had much coaching in that time. During testing with RLR MSport immediately after the 2021 ELMS finale in Portimão, Michael found huge improvements, and he went very well alongside Nick in the Asian Le Mans Series. As a result, I’m confident we can extract a lot more lap time and help him understand the car over the course of the season.”
Q: The LMP3 grid for the 2022 season is looking very strong once again.Who do you see as your main rivals this year and what are your goals for the upcoming season?
AK: “As ever, there are a number of good driver line-ups on the 2022 ELMS LMP3 grid. Cool Racing is looking good with Mike (Benham) and Malthe (Jakobsen) in their camp, and Inter Europol Competition should be strong with a Bronze driver of Charles Crews’s calibre. I’m expecting it to be a very good series with more accurate driver gradings. It’ll be tough but RLR MSport also has two strong driver line-ups and the cars will be quick.”
Q: Looking ahead to the ELMS season, which is your favourite track on the calendar and why?
AK: “For me, it’s between Circuit Paul Ricard or Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Both are very technical and require circuit knowledge and confident to go quickly, but I think Portimão just pips Paul Ricard just because drivers can make a huge difference there.”
Alex Kapadia also has plenty of silverware from other championship, with championship titles in the Britcar Endurance Championship in 2021, the Sports Prototype Cup in 2020, the SP3 title in the 2010 24H Series and the 2009 Radical European Master Series SR8 LM title to name a few.
This year Alex Kapadia in back with RLR MSport with two new teammates Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock for another try at lifting the ELMS LMP3 title.
Q: Looking back at the 2021 season, how would you sum up your year with RLR MSport?
Alex Kapadia: “The 2021 European Le Mans season was frustrating. With Mike (Benham), Malthe (Jakobsen), myself and the RLR MSport team, we had all the ingredients to challenge for the championship, which we proved in the opening round in Barcelona, where we were two seconds off the eventual race winner, despite serving a drive-through.
“We went into the following rounds with the mindset that we could win if we performed as we did in Barcelona, but we were taken out in three races, and I wouldn’t apportion any blame on us. We certainly had the pace in both qualifying and race-trim, but we learnt a lot and will apply everything we did right this year.”
Q: This season you will be joined by bronze drivers Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock in the no5 Ligier-Nissan.Can you tell us a bit about your two teammates?
AK: “Nick (Adcock) has been around motor racing paddocks for a very long time, having competed for over 20 years. It’s great to be working with him because he has pace. My job will be to help him extract the maximum from the Ligier JSP320 LMP3 and himself.
“Michael (Jensen), on the other hand, has only been racing for six years and he hasn’t had much coaching in that time. During testing with RLR MSport immediately after the 2021 ELMS finale in Portimão, Michael found huge improvements, and he went very well alongside Nick in the Asian Le Mans Series. As a result, I’m confident we can extract a lot more lap time and help him understand the car over the course of the season.”
Q: The LMP3 grid for the 2022 season is looking very strong once again.Who do you see as your main rivals this year and what are your goals for the upcoming season?
AK: “As ever, there are a number of good driver line-ups on the 2022 ELMS LMP3 grid. Cool Racing is looking good with Mike (Benham) and Malthe (Jakobsen) in their camp, and Inter Europol Competition should be strong with a Bronze driver of Charles Crews’s calibre. I’m expecting it to be a very good series with more accurate driver gradings. It’ll be tough but RLR MSport also has two strong driver line-ups and the cars will be quick.”
Q: Looking ahead to the ELMS season, which is your favourite track on the calendar and why?
AK: “For me, it’s between Circuit Paul Ricard or Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Both are very technical and require circuit knowledge and confident to go quickly, but I think Portimão just pips Paul Ricard just because drivers can make a huge difference there.”
