Your first 24 Hours of Le Mans as a driver: "It was back in 2001 at the wheel of the MG Lola EX 274 LM entered by MG Sport I shared with Anthony Reid and Warren Hughes. I remember it was a long week, I was already tired before the start of the race because I was too excited by all the preceding activities. I should have taken more time to relax. There are things between Scrutineering, the free practice where you finish late, the parade, etc. It's not easy to sleep that week. It's a difficult race but so enjoyable."   

Your best memory at Le Mans: "I would say 2010 because we finished fifth overall and first in LM P2 (in an HPD ARX 01c, editor's note). It was certainly one of our most successful races since we had no problems. We were very fast. It's still one of the best memories of my career. Le Mans is one of the biggest races in the world so to win in one's class twice is a big deal."  

Your worst memory at Le Mans: "Perhaps that famous first year at Le Mans in 2001. At the time I was with MG but the engine broke before I did my stint. I was very disappointed. Another cruel thing is to do almost the entire race and have a problem at the end (interview conducted pre-race 2016, editor's note)."

The teammate who has marked you the most: "I would say Danny Watts with whom I've worked for years. We know each other very well and he is so fast. We've been in the same team for seven years. Our approach to settings and speeds is pretty similar."

Any significance to the decoration of his helmet: "When I was younger, I really like the helmet worn by Mauricio Gugelmin (former Formula 1 driver from 1988 to 1992, editor's note). When I started to race, I thought about painting my helmet the same colours. I kept the colours but changed the design."

Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

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