24h Le Mans
Harry Tincknell, the youngest driver on the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team UK squad, will be competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third time this June. He has already tasted victory in the LM P2 class, but here he tells us about the tough preparation the race requires.
24-year old British driver Harry Tincknell is one of endurance racing’s rising stars. He made a phenomenal debut in 2014 at the wheel of a Zytek Z11SN for Jota Sport, bagging pole at his first race (Silverstone). He was also consistently the fastest LM P2 driver during his maiden race at Le Mans that year. He went on to win the class with teammates Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey. Turvey had been called up at the last minute to replace Marc Gené (who in turned replaced Loïc Duval at Audi after his accident during qualifying). It was a classic Le Mans story and has been recorded for posterity in the documentary Journey to Le Mans. So what memories does Tincknell have of that race?
It was obviously the best day of my career, for sure [laughter]. The view from the podium was unbelievable, with thousands of people on the track – it was incredible. What a race! It was my first time there, we qualified second. We led for the first couple of stints then we had a problem. We dropped three laps and I thought it was all over then. I came into the back of the truck and spoke with my manager, Alan McNish, and he said just keep fighting. He said there was still a long way to go and that we could make it back up. I didn’t think it would be possible but we just got our heads down and kept chipping away at the race through the night, and we started to come back up on everyone. By lunchtime on Sunday, we were right back in the fight. It’s just an incredible roller-coaster experience, you're up and down, then up and then down, but it was amazing!
Do you think that first experience in LM P2 will be crucial to your preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans next June, even if you’ll be in LM GTE Pro this time (in the new Ford GT)? In terms of driving, it’ll be a bit different. But braking points and gear shifts are specific to each car and I learnt a lot during that race, a lot about the track itself. It’s not a track you can test out throughout the year so it’s good to have experience of the track. Getting laps around Le Mans is vital. Then there’s the lighting, driving in the dark, and all the rest of it. And also how to deal with the week because it’s a very special event. There’s a lot going on and it’s very easy to get caught up in the moment and actually wake up on Saturday morning feeling quite tired before the race has even started.
This psychological aspect is something the spectators often forget. Yet good preparation, and knowing how to conserve as much energy as possible throughout the week is vital. For the drivers, Le Mans starts with the scrutineering on the Sunday or Monday before the race, then the qualifying, the drivers’ parade and the autograph sessions. The practice sessions finish at midnight so your sleep pattern is all different… You have to try and shut yourself away as much as possible and conserve as much energy as you can. And you have to get used to waking up and being immediately alert. Sometimes, during the race, you only have 20 minutes between being in bed and being in the car! You also have to have good nutrition but we have good people here, looking after us. So we don’t have to think about that too much, we just do what they say and get in the car and drive!
With Ford, Tincknell finds himself on a team of experienced drivers including Olivier Pla (34 years old), Andy Priaulx (41) and Marino Franchitti (37). So is his young age an issue? I'm one of the lesser experienced guys but I'm very hungry to learn and I want to emulate some of the great Le Mans drivers. I’m fast and pace is obviously important but you can’t make mistakes and you’ve got to be good in the traffic too, but I think I’ve proved that I can do all that over the last couple of years. Working with Nissan was also important. I had never worked with a big team or a big manufacturer before last year so that gives you experience of coming to a new car and another new team. So hopefully I’ve got the good blend of speed and hunger, and also consistency.
That recent experience at Nissan doesn’t seem to have left too many marks on Tincknell (in 2015, Nissan only took part in a single race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a disappointing performance from the GT-R LM Nismo). The car wasn’t as we had hoped and we didn't get the results that we wanted but to work with a team with 80 or 90 staff for the first time is important. With a big manufacturer, there are a lot of extra PR staff, media attention and all the rest that you have to deal with during race weekends. It was also my first time developing a car from scratch. In LM P2, Formula 3 or in Formula Renault, where I drove before, you can change the set-up but the car has more or less been developed by the manufacturer, then they give it to the teams. At Nissan, my first job was to develop the windscreen wipers to make sure we had a clear view when it was raining! So I was really involved in the development right from the basics, and that experience is going to help me throughout my career.
Tincknell has a particularly distinguished manager – Allan McNish, three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner (1998, 2008 and 2013). The former Audi driver is now an advisor for the marque and also oversees the young Brit’s career. He’s very involved with all the contractual side and sorting out the opportunities. He handled all the negotiations with Ford. Of course he has all the experience with the driving, but outside the car as well. He’s always giving me advice. When I was in Formula Renault or Formula 3, sometimes he’d be there on the side of the track, saying do this or do that, but nowadays it’s less about the driving and more about how to work with the team, to work with my teammates, or about the traffic and endurance. He told me that you have to be aggressive but you also have to manage the risk. Sometimes, if you take maximum risk to gain just one tenth of a second, it’s not always worth it. He taught me about that sort of calculation process, about when to back off and get a run or when to dive down inside and take a risk. You’ve only got a split second so you have to make the right choice every time.
Geoffroy Barre | Translated from French by Clair Pickworth
Photo: Harry Tincknell is competing in the European Le Mans Series with G-Drive Racing this year, but his season highlight will be with Ford at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 18-19 June.
