Mikkel Jensen is the only 2022 Peugeot works driver competing in La Sarthe this season. He is sharing the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo with Takeshi Kimura and Frederik Schandorff. “A GTE car is obviously very different” said the Dane “Everything with Peugeot is going well. We are headed to Monza in one and a half months for the race debut of the car (s). It’s coming very fast now!”
DSC confirmed yesterday that there was a plan for the Peugeot Sport team to operate an LMP2 car at Le Mans this year as part of the crew’s preparation for the full race programme with the 9X8. That plan, believed to be with the planned Keating Motorsport entry, fell when Stephen Thomas, the nominated driver for the car, transferred to Algarve Pro Racing in the wake of the withdrawal/ exclusion of G-Drive Racing.
Richard Bradley, Duqueine Team and previously LMP2 winner with KCMG in 2015 in the Oreca 05: “Every time I get to 2 am in the morning I ask myself, “Why the hell am I doing this? Even in the Classic, it’s the same… well, nearly the same; I didn’t have seatbelts there…!”
“But OK, we’re in the full ELMS season, but this race is addictive, isn’t it? Every year people say ‘the competition is stronger than ever this year,’ but I don’t buy that angle. The way this track is with so many variables, I subscribe to the thinking that you have to beat the race before you beat the competition. At the end of the day, you need to make sure you have a plan and that you stick to it, then generally things tend to go your way.”
Ryan Cullen was the only one of the trio of Vector Sport drivers to clear scrutineering on Friday with Sebastian Bourdais setting pole position at IMSA’s Detroit Belle Isle event for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing and Nico Muller on GT World Challenge Europe duty at Paul Ricard with WRT. They were both present for the group photograph in 2D form with the team supplying life-size cardboard cutout!
“My first time back for a couple of years, I haven’t had the luck these past two years, having taken a year off, but I really think we have a chance with this entry.
We are a new team but we have very experienced people, which we showed in Spa. It’s fair to think we could make it to the podium; massive improvements since Sebring and another big step in testing recently. Going for the win is the only thing I can see us trying to do, that has been the aim from the start. We haven’t had the best start but we are still hugely motivated. It’s double points here as well, and we’ve gone for experience in the crew, so it’s realistic.”
It is Michael Fassbender’s first time in the big race. “At long last !” he said “Although I’ve been competing here in Porche one-make racing, It’s been a four year journey and I feel like another four would have been good !”. He will be at the wheel of the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Matt Campbell and Zachary Robichon. “I need to be in that head space where I am totally relaxed and focussed now. For me, it’s about finishing the race” he said.
Porsche works team driver Julien Andlauer will be driving the #79 Weather Tech Racing Porsche 911 RSR with Cooper McNeil and Thomas Merrill. He shared some thoughts about the possibility of becoming one of Porsche’s hypercar drivers in the near future “I am still young” he said “I’ve shown I have pace but I may be needing additional experience. That said, I think I am ready for it. We know that there will be LMDH works cars in the future and most probably some LMDH customer cars as well. I will try hard to head towards that top category, be it in the World Endurance Championship or in IMSA.”
Martin Rump, one of the three drivers of the #99 Hardpoint Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR is the first-ever Estonian to compete in Le Mans.
