Motorsport: Dries, yesterday you officially set the fastest ever Hypercar lap at Le Mans, in 3m22.564s. Can you tell us about that lap, and what it was like from your perspective?
Dries Vanthoor: “It was a great day yesterday, obviously. I think the lap itself was pretty good. I can’t do much better than that. I made a small mistake in the last chicane, which cost me a little bit. But other than that, the lap was good. I mean, I tried to go everywhere on the limit as much as I could and tried to make no mistakes, which worked well. And yeah, obviously super happy.”
MS: I was actually going to ask, are you completely on the limit or do you keep the tiniest of margins to try not to make mistakes?
DV: “It depends on the areas. For example, Porsche corners, I was sometimes even over the limit. I mean, I was on the limit as much as I could. Obviously, especially on a track like this, you can push hard and you have to be on the limit. But if you go over the limit, you will make a mistake or you will go off. So you need to just be on the limit, and don’t go over and just don’t go below. And I think the lap was just good to be on the limit for the whole lap and to not overdo it.”
MS: When did you actually find out that you had pole? [Jack Aitken went 0.005s quicker in the #38 Cadillac, but his lap was deleted after he joined the pitlane’s fast lane too early]
DV: “Only a long time afterwards, unfortunately. We knew already from the beginning that what the Caddy did was wrong and that there was a penalty coming normally if they follow the rulebook.
“But at the end of the day, it’s a bit sad to not have the ceremony and everything, because I think on hindsight, it happened as well in LMP2 that there was a penalty handed out for the same mistake. It’s unfortunate that it took so long for the penalty to come. But at the end of the day, just happy with pole.”
#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello, Dries Vanthoor
Photo by: Marc Fleury
MS: Now, what are your expectations for the race?
DV: “Obviously, it’s a small contribution to the big weekend. Obviously, we want to win the race. Starting on pole is obviously a great extra. But our objective is to win the race, and we know we actually have a decent race car. So we just have to stay out of trouble and be there at the end. So that’s our goal. And I think we’ve got good hopes for it. And we just have to work hard and do a good job.”
MS: Who do you see as your main rivals?
DV: “I think for sure Cadillac is up there. I think Toyota as well will be there in the race runs. And you can never exclude Ferrari, even though they don’t look fast now, but I’m sure they manage somehow to be there when it counts.”
MS: What do you think is BMW’s biggest strength for the race?
DV: “That we have a good race car and that we’ve got a consistent race car. And that when it will be hot [with up to 29C forecast at the beginning and end of the race] I think we will improve on that, we will get better. Meanwhile maybe others will struggle more. And I think this is a strength which we have. So hopefully we can put it into use.”
MS: Is the heat good for you in terms of tyre management?
DV: “Yeah, it should be OK.” (smiles)
MS: Is this what you were referring to?
DV: “Yeah.”
MS: I looked at the top speed figures. BMW is a bit down on the others. But these can sometimes be skewed by slipstreams. Do you think it’s accurate?
DV: “Yeah, I think it’s somewhere close by. It also depends a bit on set-ups and how everybody runs their cars. I think in hindsight we can only find out in the first hour how the real top speeds are. But at the end of the day we just need to do a good job in the race, make sure we stay out of trouble and, again, be there on Sunday morning.”
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