ARRIVING AT LE MANS!
Well I made it on track at Le Mans!
I was here as a spectator last year and camped, so to come back this year and actually drive the track is awesome. The whole event is like nothing else! It all kicked off last Friday with a photo shoot with my Gulf Racing team and our Porsche, then on Saturday we were a part of the photo of the whole grid – all 60 cars!
On Sunday, it was time to hit the track as a part of the official test day. As a rookie, I am required to complete 10 laps in our Porsche 911 RSR, but other than that it was just an opportunity to get to grips with this mega track without any of the added pressure of race week.
We spent the test day taking it relatively easy. At Le Mans there is so much track time during raceweek, the pressure is off a little here. We focused on finding a starting balance for race week, trying a few different things, and giving Mike Wainwright track time.
It’s hard to explain just what makes this track so special – once you get into a rhythm it is just mesmerizing!
Over all I was relatively satisfied with the speed I was able to get during the test day, but I will keep working – we have plenty more practice time before qualifying!
I am really excited about being a part of the big show this year. So now it’s on to race week – and it is a huge race week! Bigger than anything else I’ve ever been a part of. I’ll just take it all step by step, ticking off the boxes during the week. Then we’ll just see what curve balls the race throws up!
Free practice starts on Wednesday afternoon, with qualifying starting on Wednesday evening.
I’ve been told that Eurosport will be showing all sessions live which is great news! Alternatively you can watch it live on the World Endurance Championship / 24 Hours of Le Mans app, or by listening to Radio Le Mans (http://www.radiolemans.co) who will be broadcasting throughout the whole race week.
Below are the session times (in local time) for reference.
Free Practice
Wed 14 Jun - 16h00 4H
Qualifying 1
Wed 14 Jun - 22h00 2H
Qualifying 2
Thu 15 Jun - 19h00 2H
Qualifying 3
Thu 15 Jun - 22h00 2H
Warm-up
Sat 17 Jun - 09h00 45min
Race
Sat 17 Jun - 15h00 24H
