“I’m very happy to be back,” Gonzalez said. “We worked hard last year to get a deal done, but could not do that. It was not the best year for LMP2 in WEC, so there weren’t very many options. I’m excited to see, once again, a very strong group. I’m very happy to be back with G-Drive Oak Racing. I love the new car. The Ligier is just awesome.”

On Sunday, Gonzalez was showing his co-drivers (Luis Felipe Derani and Gustavo Yacaman) the ropes around scrutineering. Both are rookies at Le Mans, but are not lacking in race experience.

“I’ve been doling out advice more like a nanny,” joked Gonzalez. “They’re very good drivers. Sometimes, Le Mans takes a lot longer than any other track and with the weather like we had on the test day, it’s often very difficult. I’ve been helping them stay calm and let them understand that this is how Le Mans is; the constant changing conditions, which is something we could see on race day. It’s all a learning process. It doesn’t matter what times we did on test day. We’ll stay positive.”

Gonzalez and his team have every reason to stay positive; they are coming off of strong FIA World Endurance Championship performances at Silverstone and Spa, where they finished second in class at each.

“We (G-Drive Racing) were very strong at Silverstone,” Gonzalez said. “We dominated that race. That was not what we saw at Spa. It shows how strong the competition is out there. We didn’t have much time to run, it was wet. Let’s see on Wednesday how we feel and how times compare to the rest of the field. Hopefully, we’ll be out there in the front. There’s other Ligiers, there’s other fast cars also. It’s not going to be easy, but I think we have what it takes to be in front.”

Erin Cechal / ACO