Richie Stanaway made quite the impression on his first visit to Le Mans last year with pole and fastest lap in the GTE field, but ultimately came away empty-handed after his Aston Martin Vantage was eliminated by an accident during the night.
The British manufacturer has taken a big step forward during the winter with a revised aero package and a new tyre supplier after switching from Michelin to Dunlop, but Stanaway believes the early rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship have been inconclusive.
With 14 GTE-Pro entries for Le Mans including a full scale return from Porsche, defending winners Corvette and four cars from newcomers Ford, the New Zealander admits he has no idea where Aston Martin will be in the pecking order, and is instead pinning his hopes on a consistent run to the finish in the No.97 Vantage V8.
“I’m not sure what to expect this year. Even though we’ve had two races already this year, it’s hard to see where everybody is at,” said Stanaway, who will share with Fernando Rees and Jonny Adam. “It’s going to be very tough race to win and one of the toughest ever because there are so many good teams there and if you don’t have a perfect race then someone else will.
“The performance of the different manufacturers is one thing, but some people tend to forget the importance of having a clean race. Last year was the first Le Mans for myself, Fernando and Alex [MacDowall], so we obviously lacked a lot of experience and got too caught up in the race early on.”
Lessons learned
Aston Martin had an excellent opportunity to win in both the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am classes last year, with all four cars qualifying inside the top five and running competitively in the race, before various maladies befell them. Stanaway insists that the team has learned from those mistakes and will approach the race knowing more of what to expect.
“One of the best things we could have done is just to switch the timing screens off and focus on what’s best for the car,” he continued. “When you’re new and fresh you’re trying to prove yourself, you feel like you have to put something out on the table to show what you can do, but that’s not always the right thing to do, especially in a 24 hour race.
“Our team at AMR is one of the best in the pitlane in terms of the crew and the mechanics, we’re amazing at the pitstops and reliability is usually a strength, so I’m confident that the guys can do their job and then it’s just up to myself, Fernando and Jonny to do our bit.”
On a personal note, Stanaway is relishing taking on Ford’s expanded line-up, not least because the No.69 car driven by Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook will also feature one of the Kiwi’s all-time heroes, IndyCar star Scott Dixon, making his first appearance at Le Mans.
“The GT class seems to be growing a lot; in the infancy of the WEC it wasn’t the biggest or the strongest but the turnout for Le Mans is amazing this year. It’s great to have Ford involved and then to have Porsche back with a full effort at Le Mans ahead of their new car next year. And it’s going to be really cool to race against Scott Dixon because he’s a childhood hero of mine – I’m really looking forward to it.”
James Newbold
