Ben Keating
It’s surreal. It was our first race with this car. We could not have done it without the support of Ford, because there’s a lot to learn. We had a pretty flawless race until the last two hours; then it got pretty exciting. Our strategy was for me to put in my hours on Sunday and try to get upfront, so I got to sleep last night. Everything went well, we didn’t make any mistakes. A couple of safety cars helped us out, and it all got really dramatic there at the end. I’m a little lost for words to describe how special it is.

Jeroen Bleekemolen (second class win at Le Mans after his 2008 LMP2 title)

We were really worried because we knew we had a penalty coming [for a wheelspin in the pits] but we didn’t know how long. We were calculating it and we knew it would be really close. When we came out of the pitlane it was three seconds, and Jörg [Bergmeister] is famous for his last-lap battles, so I knew it could get interesting! We’ve raced a lots in the States and he’s one of the biggest names in sportscar racing so fighting for the Le Mans win with him was great. Luckily, we had the pace and I could pull away. They also had the championship to think about. It was a great race and everything ran well. It’s amazing to win it.

Felipe Fraga (rookie)
It’s great to win! I just want to say thanks to Ben and Jeroen. Jeroen really pushed to have me in the IMSA team [Ben Keating won an gentlemen drivers’ trophy in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the American endurance championship which meant he was automatically invited to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans] and we made it to Le Mans. It was a special race to win, in a special car, which was really easy to drive. I didn’t have any issues on any of my stints. I’m really happy to be here with two other Brazilians who also won their classes [André Negraõ in LMP2 and Daniel Serra in LMGTE Pro]. I’ve raced with Daniel in stock car, and he’s doing a really good job in Europe so I’m trying to follow in his footsteps. I’m really, really happy. We had a really good day. We suffered a lot at the end but we made it!

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 16 JUNE 2019. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating and Felipe Fraga at the 24 Hours of Le Mans post-race press conference.