Strakka Racing has fielded the same line-up – Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane – since 2010. The three drivers have their sights set on victory with the Gibson 015S this year.

Will this stable driver combination be an asset this year with so many new teams and modified line-ups on the grid?
Yeah, hopefully. We’ve all worked together for quite a few years now, we want the same thing from the car and we know what it’s like to go racing together. I think that’s quite important for endurance.. A lot of the other teams are also very good, there are a lot of good drivers so it’s going to be another tough year.

Compared to the Ligier JS P2 and Oreca 05, could the Gibson 015S (derived from the Zytek Z11SN launched in 2011) be your team’s weakness?
The car feels good, it may be a little bit down on straight-line speed compared to a coupé [like the Ligier JS P2 and Oreca 05], but we know that that’s a fact and that it’s cornering speed is good. Hopefully we can get a good set-up on the car and we can be competitive all throughout the year.

You won the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Strakka in 2010. Do you think the conditions required to win Le Mans have changed much since then?
Not really, no. I think that it’s still the team with the fewest problems that will win the race. That year, we were well prepared, as always, and we had no problems during the race. We put fuel in the tank, tyres on the car, we added a little bit of oil when required, but otherwise it was completely trouble-free, which is almost unheard of! So you need a good, clean run and I think that is what you have to have to win the race in LM P2. Gone are the days of LM P2 when you could finish the race anywhere and still get a result, especially this year with over 20 cars on the grid! It’s going to be a really hard race because you need to keep the speed up, so it’s going to be hard on the cars and on the drivers.

You have a lot of experience at Le Mans so you probably know all about race preparation by now?
This will be my twelfth race at Le Mans so yeah, I know I have to look after myself in the week running up to it and try to rest as much as possible, and not get too excited! But it’s a big race and it’s easy to enjoy it too much! You just need to stay calm and do your work when you need to do your work, and then relax the rest of the time.
 

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— Strakka Racing (@StrakkaRacing) 14 avril 2016

Tell us about your best ever Le Mans experience.
I still remember my first time at Le Mans with MG, a British manufacturer and team so we had a massive amount of support that year, and the year after too. But I think 2010 is still my best year at Le Mans so far. We finished fifth overall and it wouldn’t have taken much more to be on the podium! Hopefully this year will come close!

Can the MG (MG-Lola EX257 fielded at Le Mans in 2011 and 2002) be compared to the your current LM P2 car?
The MG was only 675 kg, so very, very light. Performance-wise, it was more like a very fast, ‘light’ LM P1 car than a current LM P2. Today’s cars don’t have the same top speed but the cornering speed is good. Things have changed a lot since those days.

Is there anything left for you to learn at Le Mans?
I think you still learn everywhere! We have so much data to look at now. When I started racing [in the early 1990s], there was nothing. I quite enjoy that side of it, looking at all the data and analysing myself and my teammates to see where I can improve. The tools that you have are only useful if you actually use them and make them work for you. Every run you can see exactly what’s happening. Even on the track, your engineer can say ‘what you did at that corner last lap was better so keep doing that!’ So yeah, it’s very helpful.

Geoffroy Barre | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

Photo: Jonny Kane and his co-drivers will be combining experience and teamwork to push their way up the LM P2 field.