Works Porsche driver Nick Tandy, one of Britain’s top endurance racers, is in with a real chance of taking a win at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
If he does, it will be Tandy's second win at the World Endurance Championship’s crowning event, although it would be a very different success from his first. That victory came outright in 2015 in a Porsche 919 Hybrid that raced in the top LMP1 category.
Porsche has since quit that division, so Tandy is now back in the GTE Pro division, driving a 919 RSR alongside Patrick Pilet and Earl Bamber. But while his new car has far less horsepower than the last, Tandy arguably faces his toughest challenge yet in this weekend’s race.
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Are you ready for the race?
“I’m itching to get going. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into this race, but you don’t get so much track time. At other races, we get more practice time.”
How is your build-up going?
“It’s going well. It’s the second year of this 911 RSR GT programme, so obviously we’ve got a whole year of experience with it now. I’m coming into it from the LMP1 programme, so I’m learning. With the extra cars in the class, it’s been the right time to put a big focus into winning the GTE Pro class.”
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Is GTE Pro more competitive than LMP1 was last year?
“If you look at LMP1 last year, there were basically five cars. Honestly, you can look at GTE Pro and say that 17 cars could win the race. Everyone is going to be similar on lap times. We came here in 2015 when LMP1 was at its peak, and even then there weren’t that many cars that could win. It’s so hard to win. You can have a fast car, do a faultless race and, if a bit of strategy goes wrong, you fall to sixth.”
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