“I'm speechless right now, to be honest” says Nico Hulkenberg, as he negotiates the Le Mans 24 Hour trophy with the assistance of team mates, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.
“It's amazing to come here, first attempt... We wrote history today. I didn’t think I would come here and rock and roll this race, this would be silly because there are so many challenges... We couldn't expect such a thing.”
At 27-years, Hulkenberg is the first active F1 driver to win Le Mans since Johnny Herbert’s win with Mazda in 1991.
In the lead up to race day, Nico was his usual circumspect self, but was now positively beaming with enthusiasm for sports car racing – his disposition visibly upbeat compared to his current season in Formula One.
“The pace was really high” said a surprised Nico after the race. “Not what you’d expect from endurance racing.”
And therein lay the dichotomy. There’s certainly something wrong (or right depending on your side of the cultural divide) when a 24 hour race can out-sprint a two hour grand prix.
But it was Hulkenberg, Tandy and Bamber - Porsche’s most inexperienced crew - that out-sprinted the more seasoned line-ups in the Weissach’s sister cars during the cooler night conditions; an intriguing development considering the comparable set-ups between garages. Porsche Team Principal Andreas Seidl going as far to suggest that Hulkenberg and co. “felt comfortable in their 919 and adapted better to the conditions".
When a driver is relaxed, they are usually at their best. Hulkenberg looked like a kid in a candy store during the lead-up week to Le Mans, so it’s hardly surprising he'd be attacking La Sarthe with vigour.
Image: Porsche Motorsport