Dubourg crowned Andros E-Trophy champion!

Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Dubourg has been crowned once again the Andros E-Trophy champion, parking the Motul Renault Zoe at the top of the standings. While he gears up for the upcoming Euro RX championship, we caught up with him to look back and celebrate an incredible season of ice racing.

I’m stoked with this victory. This competition means so much to me. This is a mega victory for the team and me, especially since it’s only the second year I’ve raced with an electric car. I believe my main advantage this year was the knowledge we had of the car. This is only the second year we’ve switched from racing internal combustion-engined cars to racing fully electrified cars. During the off-season, we spent a lot of time developing our little Zoe across all conditions. Because of this, I felt way more comfortable behind the wheel of the car. On top of that, I really want to thank Motul for the support and helping us with the technology as well as the team and especially my teammates Nico Prost, Emmanuel Moinel and Gérald Fontanel. Their feedback and experience helped me set-up the car perfectly, and they indirectly helped me win the championship.

That happened in Serre-Chevalier. We had such a good weekend there, coming first and second in both races. This made me take significant advantage to my nearest rivals Erlacher and Panis. Overall, we had a great championship coming first no less than five times and getting three second places made us feel very confident throughout the year.

The championship organizers made a great decision two years ago to make that leap into EV racing, and it just paid off. To go electric meant it future-proofed the championship and made it a lot more marketable to manufacturers such as Renault, who’ve been supporting it in the Zoe project. You see the same trend in Formula and the Extreme E championship as well. On top of that it just made sense for Trophée Andros to turn electric. If you see where all of these races are held, you’d see why. We’re so close to nature, and racing silent, none polluting cars is just perfect for that environment.

If the pandemic allows us to go back to rallycross, we’ve set our sights 100% on winning the Euro RX title along with my brother Andrea. On top of that, we have a driver who’s competing with one of our cars in the French Championship, and if his performance is well, we might also have him join in our Euro RX events. Fingers crossed if the global health situation will allow us to do so.

That’s an impossible question. I mean, RX is so exhilarating. You start with six cars on the same line belting towards the first corner… There’s nothing much like it. However, on the other hand, Andros E-trophy brings out the skill of a driver. Even the qualifying laps, where you can gain a big chunk of points, are so exciting because it’s so hard to get the line just right and the feeling when you did everything right, and you win is incredible. When I finish an Andros Championship, I always feel like I’ve improved as a driver.