Robert Kubica, one of three newest winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, told media at the post-race press conference that winning the race is a “special day”.
“This one for sure will be emotional,” said the Pole to a packed press conference room in the main pits building at Circuit de la Sarthe.
“Probably now is still a bit of tiredness, adrenaline. Just looking forward to to go and rest a bit and enjoy it.
“But yeah, very special day and for sure didn’t expect it.”
The Pole has personal experience of losing a win at Le Mans on the very last lap of the race. In 2021, Kubica’s debut in the French endurance classic was going well, leading going onto the final lap. But then, disaster struck: the car stopped on the final lap of the race, with Kubica at the wheel, losing the Pole the win.
And, even better: one of his teammates in that race was Yifei Ye, who is also his #83 AF Corse Ferrari teammate who he took the Le Mans win with.
“Of course, is a special day and in winning Le Mans,” he said, the first Pole to win Le Mans overall.
“Since I started being here in 2021, I really enjoyed my first Le Mans, although it ended up in the probably most dramatic way of losing the win in the LMP2 category on the last lap.”
“I really enjoy it and felt like a small kid when I was racing karting. But the difference was that I was already 36 years old. But the emotions that this weekend gave me was something special.”
No celebrating until ‘last possible moment’, says Hanson
Kubica’s teammate, Phil Hanson, shared similar thoughts.
I echo what Robert said,” the Briton told media.
‘The emotions probably haven’t really hit yet.’
‘It’s just a lot of relief at the moment, from those last few minutes. I was actually racing against these two when they broke down on the last lap.
‘So I know Le Mans can break your heart at the last possible moment. So I wasn’t going to celebrate, or let anything out until the car physically crossed the line today.
‘It’s just relief to be honest. Plus the last time these two raced together, they had that issue. I almost thought they were a little bit jinxed.’
The Briton shared the car with Kubica and Ye. Both Hanson and Ye completed nine stints, totalling roughly between 6 hours and 30-40 minutes. Kubica, on the other hand, completed 15 stints — totalling more than 13 hours in the car, more than half the race. For context, the most a driver can do is 14 hours in the race, so Kubica was not far off this at all.
READ MORE: Kubica, Ye and Hanson take victory at Le Mans in yellow #83 Ferrari
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