Haute Mediterranean Living

Julien Gerbi and Aston Martin.

Sports

"Everything that surrounds this brand has personality"

Sitting down to talk with Julien is to be certain that the world has no doors. Well, yes, there is one and for him it is practically the peak of his career, that of his Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Julien Gerbi has been an active driver since 2003 and leads the Team Virage team together with Philippe Gautheron, racing is his life and his life is a race. Of Franco-Algerian origin, residing in Valencia and driving jewels for a British team, Julien travels around the world leading a team that does not require much introduction where he tells his story.

Tell us about yourself, Julien.
I started many years ago, at 18. It’s funny but I became a driver without going through karting, competing directly with racing cars. In all these years I have accumulated experience in prototypes, single-seaters and, as a final climax (who knows) in GT Endurance in Europe, America and the Middle East, accumulating victories and podiums.

Aston Martin is not just any brand, is it?
I have had the opportunity to drive the Aston Martin Vantage, competing in various endurance races and also doing development work with the Team Virage team. This example represents one of the most successful racing cars from Aston Martin Racing that continue to set winning standards in GT championships around the world going back 12 years when the first model was built. Participating in all this is a dream come true.

The latest version of the Aston Martin Vantage came out in 2019, Team Virage being one of the first structures in Europe to obtain two copies to compete in the GT4 South European Series and in the Ultimate Cup Series endurance European championship.

And the car, tell us about that wonder that is the ‘Vantage’
The Aston Martin Vantage is one of the most elegant and beautiful cars in the Aston Martin lineup. It has an iconic, simple and modern style that will leave its mark on the British brand’s range. On the track, it’s a lot of fun to ride: it gives a lot of confidence under braking and medium-slow corners that need a quick rotation. In the faster corners, you need to sit the car down a bit before entry, release the brakes quickly and apply the throttle smoothly, so as not to force weight transfer and make the most of the downforce the car provides. Thanks to its V8 biturbo, we can load various engine maps, delivering between 450 and 580 hp. With the highest engine map, we have reached a top speed of 286 km/h on the Motorland Aragón circuit. It must be a record for a GT4. With this engine configuration, we managed to qualify the car among the GT3 at Dijon last year, before finishing 5th overall.

What was your last race?
My last race with the Aston Martin Vantage was at Le Mans in September 2021, for the 4h Endurance. I achieved a top 10 in the general classification and a victory in our category, after having done the pole position and the fastest lap in GT5A. My teammates Umberto d’Amato and José Antonio Ledesma did a good job in the first two stints of the race, and it was just a matter of pushing it to the end. I was instructed to save fuel in my first half hour, to avoid having to do a splash & dash before the end of the race, and then my engineers gave me the green light to push.