19-year-old British racing driver Frederick Lubin is “excited but nervous” about the challenge of making his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend.
Competing in the LMP2 class with United Autosports, Lubin has accepted that the weekend ahead will be a challenge amid his first trip to the event.
“There’s a lot of trial and error to be had, but without the error. So yeah, it’s going to be difficult,” he told MotorsportWeek.com.
“I’m excited, but obviously nervous at the same time as you can imagine. But I have the right people around me.”
As well as the challenge on track, Lubin was amazed at how busy the event is already ahead of Saturday’s race start, in anticipation of the Le Mans centenary.
“There’s a lot to take in obviously, I’ve never seen a track so busy,” Lubin added.
“We’re on a Wednesday for the race week and it was about half an hour to get into the place and already on the Sunday test it was sort of the same.”
Lubin and his team-mates Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque ended Sunday’s test session 18th in class with a time of 3:38.138 in the #22 United Autosports Oreca-07 Gibson LMP2 machine.
The young rookie acknowledged the experience of his two United Autosports team-mates, who have both enjoyed success in the event in the past.
“I’m leaning a lot on the two, their experience is immense,” said the Brit.
Albuquerque has nine starts at Le Mans with a class win in the LMP2 category in 2020, in the #22 United outfit. Hanson is similarly experienced, having shared the 2020 class win with his long-time Portuguese teammate in one of his six starts in the race.
For Lubin, he’s making the transition this year from a career spent so far in single-seaters to a season-long assault in WEC. He is well aware of the differences between the two.
“There’s a lot less mechanical grip, there’s a lot less aero grip. So in a sense, that’s difficult to deal with because it’s a totally different style that I’m used to,” Lubin said.
“You really have to nail your apexes, you really have to nail your brake shape, your throttle shape. So it takes some adapting.”
Despite the differences between open-wheel and sportscars, Lubin is confident he’s adapted well, but managing traffic is still an essential item for him to keep an eye on.
“In general, it’s been a good transition for me, it hasn’t been anything that I’ve struggled with immensely. The only thing that’s difficult is dealing with traffic and not losing time. I think that’s the key for me to remember this weekend.”
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