Harold Primat will be hoping for more ‘baggage issues’ after the Monterey Sports Car Championships this weekend! Having admitted the need to purchase extra luggage to accommodate the sizeable trophy he won at Petit Le Mans a fortnight ago, the Geneva-based driver is looking to add to his silverware collection at Laguna Seca.

Primat lines up with his Creation Autosportif co-driver Jamie Campbell-Walter at the Californian circuit hoping for a repeat of their second-in-class finish at Road Atlanta. After tasting the podium on his last trip to Laguna in 2006, again with Creation, Harold is looking forward to the weekend.

“We had a great result at Petit Le Mans and it would be fantastic if we could achieve something similar at Laguna,” Harold said ahead of the four-hour race.

“If we can produce a similar performance to Road Atlanta, then we have a good chance of doing that. We need to stay out of trouble, but also push as hard as we can as there is some strong competition amongst the prototypes.”

Primat’s previous visit to Laguna Seca last season saw him finish third overall for the British team, just behind the two works Audis, and Harold is hoping the circuit knowledge gained last year will be useful this weekend.

“It’s quite a narrow circuit and there tends to be only one racing line,” Primat explained. “That’s because there’s quite a lot of dust and dirt off-line so if you deviate from the traditional line you lose a lot of grip and can easily end up sliding off the track. Things are made worse for those of us in the prototype classes because the GTs can cope with the dirty surface a little better, and when they are fighting hard with each other they drag a lot of sand onto the racing line. This means that the grip levels can change from lap-to-lap depending on what is happening in the race.”

Laguna Seca is perhaps best known for its infamous Turn 8, ‘The Corkscrew’ and Harold admits it is quite a challenge: “There’s a blind crest and apex on the uphill approach and when you look at it from the bottom of the hill it’s very impressive. The key is to have a good feel for the car through there because you can’t see the apex as you turn in. If the car isn’t set-up perfectly then it’s very easy to go off.”

The final round of the American Le Mans Series, the Monterey Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca, takes place on Saturday 20 October, with Live coverage on Motors TV in Europe (www.motorstv.com) and Speed Channel in the US (www.speedtv.com).