Jack Aitken è stato ai nostri microfoni per raccontarci alcune curiosità e alcuni retroscena della sua 24 Ore di Le Mans.
Ecco a voi, quindi, la nostra intervista, che sarà trascritta in inglese, come l’abbiamo fatta.
“So here we are with Jack Aitken, driver for Cadillac LMDH at Action Express Racing (AXR). So Jack there are few questions we would like to make, starting from the differences between the two biggest 24 hours races: Le Mans and Daytona”.
“So Daytona is a very different circuit.
Daytona is smaller while Le Mans is massive. The Atmosphere is very different in terms of the size of the paddock, the size of the track, the amount of the fans you have along the circuit, where Daytona is much more concentrated and you can see the massive grandstand. In terms of driving is again very different, Le Mans have the challenge of being an open circuit, you have the dirty roads, the camber while Daytona is a racetrack so the approach of the car is completely different and the approach of driving is completely different”.
“In a 24 hours race you have to deal with sunset and sunrise, as a driver how do you deal with it and where you have the sun in the eyes in the circuit?”
“It is very difficult to deal with it, especially when it’s clear sky and you have the sun directly in your eyes. It’s really bad in the Dunlop Chicane when you come over the hill, usually when you are coming back from Mulsanne also is really bad, then into the Porsche curves so it’s really a big challenge and as a driver there is nothing you can do except chosing the right visor in the helmet, that’s all you can do”.
“Le Mans is a big event, it’s the most important 24 hour race in the world, but is there something you don’t like about this event?”
“I don’t think there is anything I don’t like, I mean I always enjoy coming here, for sure it’s a challenge when you go through the race week, to not spend too much energy. You have so many people here and so many events, we have a lot of fans here and at the end it’s worth it”.
“Last question is about the comparison of the hybrid system between the Formula 1 car (Williams) and LMDH, is there any difference in the perception of the driver?”
“It’s a less powerful hybrid system here (on a LMDH) because of the regulation, we are not allowed to use the full capability of the hybrid system, so you don’t feel that much of an impact. All the fundamental stuff in the end it’s the same”.
“Thank you for your time”.