Sean Gelael is excited about his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, saying that the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe fully lives up to the hype surrounding it.
The Indonesian former Formula 2 racer is set to make his first appearance in the French endurance classic with top British prototype outfit JOTA as part of a line-up featuring Tom Blomqvist and Stoffel Vandoorne.
After spending several years racing in F2 as well as a stint as a test driver with Toro Rosso, Gelael has now made the full transition into sportscar racing.
His first outings with JOTA came in the Asian Le Mans Series at the beginning of the year, before embarking on a full FIA World Endurance Championship campaign that has so far led to podiums in both Spa-Francorchamps and Portimao.
Now, the fourth round of the series brings Gelael to Le Mans for the 89th edition of the French endurance classic.
“It’s amazing man,” Gelael told MotorsportWeek.com about his experience in Le Mans so far. “To be honest, it’s been an experience. I’ve been really excited. Just doing the sim, people tell you how good Le Mans is, but you never really experienced it, like, you never know how good it is until you experience it.”
“Now, first time being here, I was already excited with the prep work, sim, videos and everything and then first time actually driving it – it lives up to the hype.”
“It’s really amazing and how high speed and with the road, the bumps and everything. It’s really nice.”
Despite his Le Mans debut, Gelael is not completely new to endurance racing. Back in 2016, he competed in the WEC for three rounds with Extreme Speed Motorsports, alongside current partner Blomqvist and Alfa Romeo F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, notably finising second in the LMP2 class in Shanghai.
Gelael says that that experience is beneficial going into his debut, although he says he will draw more from his Asian Le Mans Series programme earlier in the year.
“I think you understand a bit more like the strategy towards it. Like, what you kind of prepare yourself into.”
“To be fair, it was also 2016. It was like five years ago. So obviously, I didn’t do any endurance racing after that, but to be honest, you learn just a bit more about the weekend like how to prepare yourself.”
“I learned more I think doing the Asian Le Mans Series at the start of the year just to prepare for myself again for this year and, and come back to that groove of what’s it like, the approach of the weekend.”
“It’s not that one lap or that first three laps, you have a lot of time and there are room for smaller mistakes,” he continued, comparing WEC to F2. “If you’re not on it at the pace initially, like you still have time, things like that.”
“Even in free practice sessions, you just have time to get yourself into a rhythm. Your first lap doesn’t have to be your best lap. Where usually in F2 or in an F1 weekend, because of the tires because of how short the timing of driving [is], you need to be on it straight away.”
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