What does it feel like to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans?
Like you can imagine, it’s everything you think and more. I’ve been at the race before, driving with a chance to win, but it’s never happened. You look at the winners, and you think “wow, that must be amazing”. And it’s just like that. Just as you imagine and then some.
 

Did you feel a little bit guilty that other drivers have worked with the team for two years and you get flown in and take it away?
No, not at all (laughs). No, there’s a team spirit. For Porsche, we won the race and that means for everybody who’s working at Porsche, WE won the race. Everybody is part of the team. Of course, you would like your car to be the one. All the crews that work on the cars would like to see their particular car win. At the end of the day, we all work together, and of course for the drivers, you like to win. But, honestly, we did the best job at Le Mans. It wasn’t a lucky win so I think it’s justified that we feel proud of what we did.
 

Did you expect it because in the early hours of the race you fell behind the Audis pretty quickly?
At the start of the race, no. The Audi was very quick in the hot conditions. Around 11pm Nico was driving and we started to get the times back and saw we were closing the gap with the leaders. I was watching this happen on the television screen. That’s when I thought, “OK, this could be our race. We have the fastest car and we’re closing the gap to the leaders. Now’s the time to really try and maximise.” So that’s when I got in, just after midnight and thought “OK, now we really need to go to work”. And when I came out of the car after my stint, we were a long way in front and I thought “yeah, we really can win”.
 

What was the impact of winning Le Mans in the UK?
It’s really big, it’s huge. Autosport is the biggest motorsports magazine in the UK. When a British driver wins a world championship they produce a celebratory racing green cover, which doesn’t happen very often of course. There was one when Anthony [Davidson] was world champion last year and there have been green covers for Lewis [Hamilton]. They produced one for me too, because it means so much to British fans and people in British motorsport circles. That shows just how much Le Mans means. It shows just how important it is for a British driver to win, especially with Porsche. I mean, after the success that British drivers have had with Porsche before. But it’s an important win for any constructor.
 

Is there a particular moment you will remember about this victory?
The most obvious memory is riding down the pit lane after the race. Nico was driving and we were hanging on to the side of the car. The rest of the teams and the fans were lining the side of the track and everybody was applauding. That really meant a lot. All the other teams, all the other manufacturers came to say congratulations. That shows how good our sport is. We’re not fighting against each other all the time. When it comes to it, we appreciate each other’s successes.

Ticket sales for the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans (18 and 19 June) will open on Tuesday 3 November for ACO members and Friday 6 November for non-members.

David Bristol / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, SUNDAY 15 JUNE 2015, FINISH. Nick Tandy will always remember riding down the pit lane on the winning car.