Colin Le Maitre wants to be the quickest two-litre car driver in the French National Hill Climb Championship.

COLIN LE MAITRE is aiming to be the fastest driver in a two-litre car in the 2008 French National Hill-Climb Championship.
And the signs are looking good for the 51-year-old owner of Autocare Refinishers, as he has been the quickest of the two-litres in his Dallara F 302 FL in three of the first four races of the 12 round series.
‘My aim is to be the top two-litre car in France,’ he said.
‘I also want to beat a few three-litre cars as well.’
Competing against more powerful three litre machines that can produce 500bhp compared to Le Maitre’s 290bhp, it is a real test for the Sarnian to go faster than them.
‘There’s no way to beat them,’ he said.
In the opening race of the season at Bagnols Sabran, near Avignon in the south of France, in early April, Le Maitre was the highest placed two-litre, coming in 26th place out of 139 competitors.
All the finishers above him were in three-litre cars.
Le Maitre missed the next event at Col Saint-Pierre but did not lose any valuable points as the event was rained off.
At the following meeting at Abreschviller in the east of the country, Le Maitre finished 15th and was again the quickest in a two-litre machine.
Misfortune struck the Guernsey driver at the next round at Hebecrevon near St Lo, Normandy, as he had to pull out with a faulty spark box before he had even had one run.
‘I shine there and I had a top-10 finish there last year,’ said Le Maitre.
‘It’s my local hill. It was disappointing but the upside was that it happened on one of the closest events to St Malo so I didn’t have a long drive home.’
Le Maitre’s car is now back up and running and his next meeting was at the weekend in La Broque, which is 50km from Strasbourg.
He is staying in France to take part in the following round in Beaujolais Villages at the end of the week.
Hill-climbing is big business in France.
Le Maitre is one of a number of foreign drivers taking part in this year’s series and he is also top of the challenge open class.
The hills are substantially longer than the Val des Terres with the longest being Turckheim Trois-Epis, which is a whopping 5.9km long.
‘It’s a big thing,’ said Le Maitre about the series.
‘It’s bit like circuit racing with thousands and thousands of people watching. It’s a great thing to do.’
The only downside with Le Maitre’s involvement is that he is missing out on the Guernsey leg of the national hill-climb championships, which is the biggest event on the local motorsport calendar.
It is taking place on Saturday 19 July, the same day as the Dunieres meeting.
It will be the first time in more than 30 years of racing that Le Maitre will have missed the national.
‘I’d love to be there but I will be in France,’ he said.
Esso and Condor Ferries sponsor Le Maitre.
But with the spiralling costs in fuel and the strengthening of the euro against the pound, he is seeking additional support.
Anyone interested can contact him on 07839 257738.