{"id":590,"date":"2011-06-09T11:23:13","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T10:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/preprod.gmtmag.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2016-06-17T16:02:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T14:02:41","slug":"marc-hayek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/business-n-en\/interview-2\/marc-hayek.html","title":{"rendered":"Marc Hayek &#8211; Blancpain : CEO of Blancpain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"contenu_article\"><strong>Since when?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I began motor sports at an early age, since I was already riding a motorbike at the age of 6 and took part in my first competitions when I was 10. I rode superbike until I the age of 24, in parallel with go-karting. I then caught the motor racing virus four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What sparked your interest?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I began to miss competitive sports. Five years ago, the Lamborghini importer in Switzerland, Roland Affolter invited me to accompany him on the Dijon race track, and it was a real eye-opener.. I found the Lamborghini GTR to be even more fun than motorbikes, and as you get older it\u2019s not so painful either.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your finest memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My victory in Barcelona in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP-570-4 just after the birth of my son. I hadn\u2019t slept for three days and I left directly from the hospital in order to arrive just in time for the qualifying rounds. Nobody really thought there was any chance of winning, but I simply ran on adrenalin right the way to the podium.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Of which performance are you most proud?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first race of the 2010 season in Hockenheim, which was phenomenally intense. That was where I felt the most pressure. I fought an incredible duel with the season winner, constantly pushing each other to the limit. My tyres reacted unpredictably to braking, everything was a matter of millimetres, and the suspense was truly nail-biting. By the end I was exhausted but victorious, and it was definitely the finest battle I\u2019ve ever fought.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What would you see as the ultimate objective?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t set any long-term objectives; each race is a goal in itself, and each time I try to win and above all to excel.<\/p>\n<p>The dream location where you would love to race? There would of course be the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, but that\u2019s really something special. Otherwise I would love to go back and race on the Laguna Seca track in California which I only know on motorbike.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How does this passion influence your professional activities?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether motor racing or other competitions, such activities strengthen me and help me adopt a rigorous approach to life. I remain stoical even in situations of extreme stress. Within my professional context, I also try to improve constantly and to focus on the details that enable me to win.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Since when?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I began motor sports at an early age, since I was already riding a motorbike at the age of 6 and took part in my first competitions when I was 10. I rode superbike until I the age of 24, in parallel with go-karting. I then caught the motor racing virus four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What sparked your interest?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I began to miss competitive sports. Five years ago, the Lamborghini importer in Switzerland, Roland Affolter invited me to accompany him on the Dijon race track, and it was a real eye-opener.. I found the Lamborghini GTR to be even more fun than motorbikes, and as you get older it\u2019s not so painful either.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your finest memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My victory in Barcelona in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP-570-4 just after the birth of my son. I hadn\u2019t slept for three days and I left directly from the hospital in order to arrive just in time for the qualifying rounds. Nobody really thought there was any chance of winning, but I simply ran on adrenalin right the way to the podium.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Of which performance are you most proud?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first race of the 2010 season in Hockenheim, which was phenomenally intense. That was where I felt the most pressure. I fought an incredible duel with the season winner, constantly pushing each other to the limit. My tyres reacted unpredictably to braking, everything was a matter of millimetres, and the suspense was truly nail-biting. By the end I was exhausted but victorious, and it was definitely the finest battle I\u2019ve ever fought.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What would you see as the ultimate objective?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t set any long-term objectives; each race is a goal in itself, and each time I try to win and above all to excel.<\/p>\n<p>The dream location where you would love to race? There would of course be the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours, but that\u2019s really something special. Otherwise I would love to go back and race on the Laguna Seca track in California which I only know on motorbike.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How does this passion influence your professional activities?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether motor racing or other competitions, such activities strengthen me and help me adopt a rigorous approach to life. I remain stoical even in situations of extreme stress. Within my professional context, I also try to improve constantly and to focus on the details that enable me to win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15658,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590\/revisions\/15658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmtmag.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}