It’s the final Le Mans 24 Hours for the GTE Pro class. Tell me a little bit about your feelings at the end of a full, professional GT class because this is a form of racing, that suits your style.
“It’s been a huge part of my career. Since I joined Porsche, whether it’s been GT3, GTE Pro or whatever, it’s been a huge learning curve and a catalogue of mega experiences. And I’ve loved GTE Pro racing, back to 2018 when we won Le Mans aganst almost 20 other factory cars packed with factory drivers. It was huge.
“The only thing which was always missing is that you win in class, you don’t win overall.
“It’s sad to see it go, but at the same time the sport is in a huge transition, and what’s coming with LMDH, that’s where I definitely want to be a part of and fight for overall victories.
“But I’m not gonna lie, I’m going to miss GT Pro, the cars and the factory competition.”
This year, we’ve got a little bit of needle, particularly with the Porsche and the Ferrari teams after what happened in Bahrain. Are you feeling that? Is that a real thing or is that something we in the media have created?
“I’ve not been so heavily involved obviously as the others, as I was not there for the full season, but there’s definitely a lively rivalry there.
“It’s good for the sport in the end. It’s a professional sport. So it’d be strange not to have rivalries.
“The last Le Mans probably ended with a bit of a feud and then Bahrain added a bit of that. And I’m not gonna say too much. I think if we would come to the last lap, fighting for the lead it would probably be very interesting.
“But it’s good. It’s what we want, it’s what we want to see. So as long as everything that happens is fair, Porsche vs. Ferrari has always been a strong rivalry
How important is it to be part of a successful end to this story for GTE Pro? And how might that help with what comes next?
“I mean, it’s been an awesome era. We had one win in 2018.
Don’t ask me why. But since the beginning of the year, I had a very keen feeling on this race and have had a very positive attitude about it. We certainly want to win it. We’ll be pushing!
