This weekend Eurosport Australia’s exhaustive coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours race, with 20 hours of LIVE broadcast starts at 10.45pm on Saturday 14 June.
Ahead of the 82nd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, Eurosport Australia had an exclusive chat with Aussie Mark Webber about his switch from Formula One to the World Endurance Championship and what it means to race for Porsche.
Webber headlines this landmark year for the Le Mans event as he, alongside five other drivers, takes control of the Porsche 919 Hybrid race car in the Le Mans Prototype class, the first time Porsche has competed in this class in 16 years.
Despite promising results early on in the season for Porsche, there are no expectations of outright victory, however such a result would be welcome reward for the hard work put into engineering a totally new car for one of the world’s toughest motorsport competitions.
Eurosport Australia: It’s been a very different start to 2014 for you! Testing aside, the first event for you in the new Porsche 919 Hybrid took place the same weekend F1 held their fourth event. How did you adjust your preparation, both mentally and physically, for endurance racing and a later start to the season?
Mark Webber: My last race was in November but to be honest I haven’t noticed a big change with the season preparation. For sure I had an extended break over the winter; I enjoyed spending a little bit more time in Australia in January but I’ve been preparing with Porsche in winter testing. As far as my physical preparation goes I now actually have a bit more time to enjoy my training more and it’s not as rigorous as my F1 training was. Mentally I need to get into the rhythm of these cars and dealing with the traffic and back markers and there will be more cockpit time, which will help me mentally.
Was there always a succession plan for you to keep racing post-F1, or was the opportunity to compete with Porsche a case of good timing?
I’ve enjoyed a good relationship with Porsche over the last couple of years. When I was getting closer to the decision to stop F1 I looked at myself and said I’m still a young guy at 37 and I needed to find something. Porsche was too good an opportunity to refuse, such a great brand, the most famous sports cars in the world and for me to join their return was a no brainer. It gives me a real nice chance to race for quite a few more years to see how I feel with that. Porsche are looking after me well which is great, exactly what I need off the back of a long and busy career in F1.
This year won’t be the first time you’ve competed at the 24 hours of Le Mans, in 1999 you arrived with Mercedes-Benz but didn’t make the start of the race due to a warm-up incident. Has competing in this event been on your ‘bucket list’, so to speak, since 1999?
When I got involved with Mercedes in the early years, I realised what Le Mans meant for drivers, manufacturers and people in Europe and America. It is such a famous car race and when you go there you realise how big it is and how much preparation goes into it.
Towards the end of my F1 career I then thought, why not, let’s go back and try to win this really tough race. Not many people get to stand there on the top step and especially with Porsche. The other manufacturers wouldn’t have excited me as much, but Porsche has that lure. It doesn’t matter who you talk to, any guy that has been at the top end knows, that Porsche is something to get excited by.
Developing two brand new cars for the LMP1 class is no easy task, having been a part of the development of the 919 Hybrid, are you confident it can contend for overall victory at Le Mans?
I think for 2014 that would be a bit too optimistic but in the future we can certainly challenge for victories there. Le Mans is a hard race to put together. It’s all about consistency and reliability as well as team work. The car needs to be very strong throughout the whole race. The drivers need to be relaxed, driving very well in a good rhythm and just make it very much a procedural operation, which it needs to be.
This year you’re teamed in the same car with two other drivers, one of which is Timo Bernhard who won Le Mans in 2010. What do you expect to learn from him?
Timo is super experienced in this type of racing. He has got a great feel for what we need in terms of the priorities. When we are under the spot light we want to execute the cleanest possible job for the team, whether it’s pit stops, driver changes, seat belt positions, driving at night, using different tyre compounds which is all very different to what I am used to. In F1 we had the same practice session times, the same race times for 13 years, that’s how it was. But here you can drive at 3 am, at 2 pm and you have a 25-30 degree temperature shift, which in motor racing terms is a lot. And that takes a lot of experience from a driver and that kind of stuff is certainly something he can help me with.
Your other team mate is young Kiwi Brendon Hartley, he’s had experience in open wheelers and endurance racing, has been touted as a potential F1 prospect and is signed alongside you in one of the most esteemed LMP1 programs, do you expect to be the teacher or student with Brendon?
Brendon for sure has more current experience than me in this category, but in terms of the overall experience of course I think that Timo and I can help him a little bit. Especially Timo can be a great teacher for him in terms of where and what we focus on and not getting a little bit too hungry for certain things which in the end might not make a huge difference. It’s great to have him in the team; you need that young, energetic and passionate approach. I was there a long time ago. That great mixture of youth and experience is very important for a team.
You’ve won some of the world’s most prestigious Grand-Prix races at iconic venues, including Silverstone and Monaco, what would it mean personally to add a Le Mans title to that list?
I’m extremely motivated to put this race on my CV and to win it with my teammates and with Porsche. It’s been 16 years since their last win and to win there with Porsche is not like any other manufacturer, that’s clear for any driver. To win there with Porsche is very unique and that’s what I’m very excited about doing.
Eurosport Australia’s LIVE coverage of the event begins on Wednesday June 11 in the lead up to a weekend full of racing.
The coverage times are as follows:
