24h Le Mans
Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima was the ill-fated hero of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Toyota Gazoo Racing works driver was leading the race at the wheel of the #5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid when the car came to a standstill on the pit straight, just as it was about to begin its final lap. We look back at one of the most difficult moments in the career of this professional who has 36 Formula One Grand Prix races under his belt.
How did you feel on that last lap of the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
“In the beginning, I couldn’t believe what was going on. I had the engineers on the radio and we were trying to fix it. I still believed that we could do something but that didn’t happen in the end. I had to stop the car and restart. I was just speechless. I was actually quite calm in the end, no more shouting, no more panicking, I was just driving one last lap. It was just an incredible race but incredibly cruel. The nice thing is that the fans were really pleased to see our performance and then they were full of sympathy for us, so a lot of mixed feelings.”
And how do feel now, more than a month later?
“To be honest, I don’t think about it anymore, even though it’s hard to forget! I think it will stay with me forever – or at least until I win the 24 Hours one day! It’s just another experience, but a very hard experience! As professional racing drivers, we are ‘designed’ to forget about the bad stuff so I’m now ready to fight again in another race.”
You’ve had some great achievements but also quite a bit of bad luck during your career. Was this your biggest disappointment?
“Yes! There have been some difficult times in my career but this was the toughest of all.”
What happened at Le Mans seems to have made Toyota more popular. What do you think?
“I think it has, yes. The positive thing is that we have gained even more fans than if we’d actually won the race! So I think that this is the start of a good story and it will go on until we win the race. And I’m sure we will achieve that one day.”
