24h Le Mans
Porsche works driver Nick Tandy has had an outstanding season, the sort that few drivers get to experience, the highlight being a sensational victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Anything can happen at Le Mans and this year the winning car was only brought in for the French 24-hour endurance race. It’s a dream come true for Tandy, Nico Hülkenberg and Earl Bamber who joined Porsche’s LM P1 campaign in the third 919 Hybrid. It was Tandy’s third time at Le Mans, but the first time in a prototype. He now belongs to the very select club of British drivers to have won Le Mans in a Porsche. The other members are Richard Attwood, Derek Bell and Allan McNish – no less. After Le Mans, Tandy went on winning, first in the WEC with KCMG’s LM P2 Oreca and then in the United SportsCar Championship in GT with the Porsche 911. We talked to Nick about his season:
Nick Tandy: The Le Mans win took a lot of pressure off for everybody at Porsche. As a driver you want to compete for the top positions and once you win the biggest race, you have nothing else to prove. From then on, things become a lot easier. The victory at Le Mans really kick-started the whole thing in 2015 for myself and Porsche as well... I won again in the LM P2 class in the World Endurance Championship when I got back with KCMG. At that time, it was quite difficult to be overtaken by the 919 Hybrid (smile), but the battle was great in the LM P2 class. For the remainder of the World Endurance Championship, every time I walked by the Porsche garages, I would have liked to drive the 919 Hybrid again. But I only sat once in the car for a few demonstration laps at Laguna Seca for the Porsche Rennsport Reunion IV. After Le Mans, we also basically won everything in the TUSC with Porsche! At Petit Le Mans, we took the first outright win for Porsche and a GT car there. Winning in so many different categories and championships is very special, and everything started at Le Mans. Winning in so many different categories and championships is very special, and everything started at Le Mans.
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated from French by Emma Paulay
Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SUNDAY 14 JUNE 2015, RACE. Nick Tandy won two major races in 2015: the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and Petit Le Mans, the last race in the American endurance season, at Road Atlanta in October.
