Jan Magnussen needs no introduction here at Le Mans. Over 20 consecutive starts since his debut in 1999 with the Panoz LMP1, the likeable Dane transitioned via a year with Audi Team Goh’s R8 to a distinguished association with Corvette Racing that netted four wins, five podiums and a place in endurance racing history. Still keen and certainly not lacking any pace, the 48-year-old has additional proud focus with his eldest son, Kevin, whose seven-year career in Formula 1 saw 120 Grand Prix starts with McLaren, Renault and Haas F1.
With a factory Peugeot Le Mans Hypercar drive in the bag, the 28-year-old sees a big future in sportscars, currently campaigning the Chip Ganassi run Cadillac DPi in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, a win at Detroit and consistently solid finishes currently putting him fourth in the current standings. So aside from the excitement of a much anticipated father-and-son pairing here, Kevin is getting valuable mileage in the bank at the big sportscar circuits.
Teamed with Anders Fjordbach in the #49 High Class Racing Oreca 07 – Gibson for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours among a sizeable and tightly contested field of LMP2 machinery, DSC caught up with two-thirds of ‘the other Dane Train’ following a challenging couple of sessions:
How do you feel ahead of your first Le Mans? Does this feel ‘new’?
Kevin: “It’s hard to be surprised about Le Mans as a track as I’ve been down here so many times and I’ve watched the race on TV so much I really felt acquainted with the track even before I drove it. There’s always difference in real life though and the history, particularly my Dad driving here for 22 years, it still feels special.
“Sometimes when I’m driving it still feels like I’m watching an onboard video. It’s a legendary place; so much history, particularly when you drive the straight.”
Jan: “…and we need straight line speed!”
How do you plan to find that extra performance?
Kevin: “We’ve been consistently half a second off the pace since the Test Day. The obvious decision is to change the engine, but there are so many other things you check and dial out before you actually do that.”
Jan: “We will be changing the engine however, not in today’s first practice session (FP3), but there’s enough time between then and the late night FP4 to get it done.”
Kevin: “You have to go through a process of elimination first. Also, there are a lot of places around here where you can really win or lose time. You’ve got the long straights, so a bad exit can really mean a lot. There’s always a lot of pressure; it’s not like places where you have a lot of corners and missing a bit here and there can be made up.
“There’s a big consequence here if you don’t get it quite right. The Porsche Curves and the Ford Chicane in particular, where you are taking a lot of kerb. It’s a phenomenal track to drive.
“I’d had some experience at Daytona, so running at night is not going to be new to me, but it’s certainly different. The entry to the Porsche Curves is super dark, but that’s another part of what makes this place so very special. Le Mans is the real night race of all the races.”
Has having a second car helped you diagnose the issue?
Jan: “Last night we ran the two cars identical: rake, ride height, springs, everything… and we were still down. We can’t really explain it, we’re missing 6 kph down all the straights.”
“It’s been the main thing we’ve worked on. It’s frustrating because it would be so nice to just work on balance and get laps, but we’ve spent a lot of time trying to identify the problem. It will be great when we do change the engine to get that speed and focus elsewhere, but let’s see.
“Overall though, I’m really enjoying being back in the WEC in a prototype. This year the High Class Racing P2 car, I must say, is very similar to driving the last prototype I drove, the Audi R8: very similar feelings, power level… after so many years in a GT car, to get back and feel the downforce is wonderful.”
There’s still a lot of the build up to come, how are you approaching the remaining sessions and the race?
Kevin: “Approaching a 24-hour race is about looking forward, sometimes a long way forward. In a Formula 1 race you have to take chances early to make the most of the bunching of the field, but in endurance racing you are always planning ahead. It’s the same all the way through the race, you take it in stages.
“You can be fighting hard for position with six hours to go and still you are thinking ahead because there is so much left to do and anything can happen. Judging when to really take risk against other cars is the big difference along with the traffic management. That’s something I find really interesting. In F1 you get into a rhythm and quite often stay there for the rest of the race, whereas here you’re always on it mentally, trying to judge when and where to overtake, whether there are alternative lines you can explore in traffic.
“And with the GT cars also having those same challenges it makes for really different racing from an attack or defence position. That is much more intense than an F1 race, so it’s pretty cool.”
And finally, Jan, how special does this feel, now you’re actually here with Kevin as co-drivers? We know you’d hoped to race together here for a while…
Jan: “I have the season drive with High Class Racing, but there was an additional entry here and the space became available in the second car, so I switched over and there was an opportunity for Kevin and I to put together something we’ve been wanting to do for years.
“We view the whole father/son thing professionally as racing drivers.
“When we’re in it, we’re racing and we rely on each other to do the best job we can. In that respect it’s no different from any other year for me. I still give him a hard time!”
Images courtesy of High Class Racing
