You raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year with Scuderia Corsa in the #62 Ferrari F458 Italia with Bill Sweedler and Jeff Segal.  What can you tell us about the experience?

 It was a whole new challenge. I’ve been racing sports cars for five years in the US and when I went to Le Mans last year, I was like ‘oh, I’ve raced in Europe, I’ve done F3000, a little F1 testing, I’ll do Le Mans...’    And then I went, for the Test Day. I had to fly from Detroit. I did a sports car race on Saturday, flew overnight and got to Le Mans, where it was raining. We were on intermediate tyres and I went out for my first lap and suddenly I was like ‘wow this is tough’. I had no idea. I was unprepared for how difficult it was. I’d done some work on the simulator but it’s an awesome race track, a really fantastic track. I love it.

What are you aiming for this year?

This month I’m focused on Indy 500 but every time I have a little break I think of Le Mans and I make calls about the set-up because I really want to go there for a strong run. We had a great run last year, we finished on the podium, which was amazing for three American rookies with no experience at Le Mans.  And now we have the same three drivers, same team, same Ferrari and we’re thinking about how we can use our experience to win. That’s the aim. 

How do European races differ from those in the USA?

It’s not that different. SportsCar racing is run pretty much according to ACO regulations. There are no safety zones here and we have more safety car periods.The pit stops are a little bit different. Other than that, it’s pretty similar. However, Indy cars and endurance cars are very different. They have practically nothing in common. The cars both have a steering wheel and four wheels, but that’s it! [laughs]

Townsend Bell interviewed at Indianapolis