24h Le Mans
Even more than in the other rounds of the World Endurance Championship, the 24 Hours of Le Mans expect hybrid prototype drivers to have capacities that go further than their natural talent behind a steering wheel.
"We are far from the image of a racing driver in the 1960s and 70s!”
Fortunately, even if this kind of species has not (yet) totally disappeared, Pascal Vasselon’s (Technical Director of Toyota Gazoo Racing) witticism is symptomatic. Because today, being a driver of a hybrid prototype car requires constant reactivity to what happens on track, but also constant radio communication on all technical parameters of the behaviour of the car and their hybrid systems. This report raises the following question: how can the constant growing sophistication of hybrid prototypes and a technical debrief from drivers which is more and more specific, influence their recruitment? Elements of an answer with three managers of teams Audi, Porsche and Toyota.
Pascal Vasselon (Technical Manager Toyota Gazoo Racing): "It is clear that we expect a lot from drivers. But they can have a different level of contribution within the team: pure speed for one, a more important technical debrief for another for example. In the end, it’s all about a large spectre of added values, as we expect them to have a large engineering and technological culture. It’s difficult to become a racing driver these days! (laughter)"
Andreas Seidl (Team Principal Porsche): "Cars are so complex nowadays that the technical skills of our drivers have become an important factor when we recruit. There are many exchanges between them and our engineers, whilst pushing the cars to their extreme limit on track. It is therefore very important to have drivers with such skills and, up to now, we are very satisfied with the drivers who are with us."
Pascal Vasselon: “Lately, the technological evolution has been extremely marked. Certain drivers complain while others are ok with it, which doesn’t prevent them all from being very talented. But it is true that today, in the World Endurance Championship, drivers become real engineers in their cars: they have a natural talent and an intellectual capacity that is superior…They check all the boxes in seconds! (laughter)"
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Manager Audi Motorsport): “According to me, drivers need to know how get the maximum out of the car whilst taking care of it. They therefore need to have an interest for technology because they are the first in line to use the car to its best when they are behind the steering wheel. Our drivers are all different, like all of us, and it’s true that certain drivers are more interested than others in technology. But the team in general is on a very good level, always ready to give its best in all circumstances and even more so during the 24 Hours of Le Mans where it is necessary to show an even bigger capacity of adaptation.”
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO
Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS CIRCUIT, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE 2015, QUALIFICATIONS. The evolution of technology helping, a driver of a hybrid prototype LM P1 becomes more and more an engineer. Marc Lieb, driver of the Porsche 919 Hybrid number 18.
