be successful then I would have to change my aims and today I couldn’t be happier to be here, fighting for a World Championship so early in my career.”
It was a “life changing” third place on the unforgiving streets of Macau in 2013 that opened the door to the possibility of a career in sportscars. Building on a fine sixth from 13th on the grid in 2012, Derani started well and kept away from the walls to join Williams development driver Alex Lynn and DTM race-winner Antonio Felix da Costa on the podium, ahead of the fancied Alexander Sims, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Harry Tincknell.
Greg Murphy knows a talent when he sees one and made sure to get Derani on board for the following season’s European Le Mans Series rounds at Paul Ricard and Estoril.
“Macau is the biggest event on the F3 calendar and it showed he has a head for the big events because he didn’t make any mistakes,” says the Irishman, who plucked Brendon Hartley from single-seaters before his ascension to the Porsche LMP1 line-up.
“He came to the workshop in the early stages of that year and after Macau we started talking more seriously. When I first met him I instantly liked him, he’s a good kid, with an old head on young shoulders, very mature.
“I’m sure he’ll go onto bigger and better things, he’s gone from being a quick single-seater protégé to a pretty good ticket for an LMP1 team to have a look at.”
It didn’t take Derani long to learn the ropes in his two race cameo with Murphy and he could count himself unlucky not to win on his debut thanks to a stop-go penalty for a pit infringement. Looking back, he says the confidence-boosting experience served him well ahead of his graduation to the world stage with G-Drive for 2015.
“Racing with Greg was a great experience and I don’t regret anything because if it wasn’t for those two races, I wouldn’t be in the WEC at the moment,” he says. “People weren’t expecting anything from me, I was just a new young driver coming into sportscars, where there is so much to learn. I just fell in love with it; it was amazing to start on the pole and be on the podium in my first race. If I am where I am today, it’s because I had that chance and not many young drivers coming from F3 get that.”
That grounded approach would serve the Brazilian well on his first attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours in May. Derani was suitably respectful of the Circuit de la Sarthe and duly rewarded with a solid haul of points for fourth place, ensuring that he, Gustavo Yacaman and Ricardo Gonzalez are still very much in the hunt for the LMP2 title heading into the business end of the WEC season.
“Every single team in the WEC, ELMS and America who do Le Mans work for the whole year just for that race, so the amount of pressure on the driver not to make a mistake is huge,” says Derani. “The whole experience from the first test until the end of the race is just immense, you never realise how big it is until you actually take part. It was the hardest race of my life; now I understand why manufacturers usually pick drivers who have experience there!
“Obviously we wanted to be three steps further up, but at the end of the day to finish that race is a big achievement and we got good points for the championship as well. And now I know more of what to
expect, it will hopefully make life much easier the next time. I hope to keep coming back for another twenty or more years.”
Consistency has been the key to the Latin American crew’s title challenge, having finished inside the top three WEC-registered point scorers at every round so far, but Derani is itching to register that all-important first win and has been quietly putting in the hours behind-the-scenes to attain his goal. The fruits were evident at the Nürburgring as he showed well against Sam Bird’s sister car in the first stint, and ended being the third fastest LMP2 driver after Bird and Le Mans winner Nick Tandy.
“It’s my first ever season in WEC and first complete season in sportscars so there are a few things that will come with time, especially now being in the car for much longer than I used to be before, because with that you have to manage tyres and fuel,” he says. “Every time I get in the car I’m improving bit by bit and I am aware of the areas I need to work on. In motorsport you can never relax, so I’ve been pushing myself a lot to be able to reach the top in this type of racing. It’s not only about driving fast, you’ve got to be reliable and have a pair of safe hands because you’re not only driving the car for yourself, you have to always be thinking about your team-mates.
“This year we have a great opposition in the new Oreca, and so far they’ve been showing that they’ve made good improvements to their car and they’re very quick, so on our side, we’ve got to keep pushing to be in the fight. We are not here to finish second, we are here to win this championship and to win races. It’s a real team effort, so you can be sure that me and the team are pushing for it.”
That team is Jacques Nicolet’s Onroak, a bona fide constructor in their own right, having produced the Ligier JS P2 in-house and sold it to customers on both sides of the Atlantic, including Michael Shank Racing, Krohn Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports; whose fleet were entrusted to Derani to shake-down before Spa. And with the news that the French outfit will be designing an all-new LMP2 car for the 2017 regulations, the Brazilian can expect to play an important role in the testing and development should he stay for another season.
Fourth place was a reasonable return on Derani's
first LM24 appearrance