How do you feel about your 2015 ELMS season?
Apart from our fourth place in Estoril, we were on the podium in every race and this consistency put us in a with a shout of winning the championship. Although it’s been a good year, it could have been even better but one or two things cost us points. We were leading the championship going into the final race in Estoril, so to finish the season in third place is very disappointing. But that’s the way it goes. There was the incident with Simon (Dolan) and a mechanical issue on the car that cost us a lot of time.

You participated for the first time at Le Mans in LM P1 in 2015. What will you keep in mind from this race?
Of course, it’s very special to compete in LM P1 at the age of just 23. I think I’m one of the youngest guys ever, which is quite a special feeling. It was a difficult first year for Nissan with not much testing beforehand and we had a lot of troubles, but I’m very proud that we got the car to the finish because it was difficult and the other two cars had to retire. For me personally, I was quickest in qualifying and quickest in the race (of the Nissan drivers) so I was happy with my performance. While this year was obviously disappointing in terms of the result, I think that next season we can be much closer (the interview was recorded before Nissan announced their withdrawal from LM P1).

What will you be doing in 2016?
Obviously we’ll have to see but I’d really like to continue in ELMS. It’s a fantastic championship that’s had a lot of success. I hope Jota feel the same way, I’m sure they do. I’m a racing driver and want to be out as much as possible. I’m looking at doing some stuff in America as well, possibly, and I did my first GT race in September at Nürburgring, so I’m just trying to be involved as much as I can and drive as much as possible. We’ll just have to sort everything out over the winter with regard to contracts.

Jota Sport will be involved in the World Endurance Championship with an Oreca 05. What are your thoughts on that?
It’s very good for Jota. They have been a fantastic team in the last couple of seasons in ELMS and it’s good for their evolution to step up into LM P1. It will be very interesting to see how the Oreca 05 compares to the Gibson 015S because, in testing, we’ll be able to look at the data and see where their true strengths and weaknesses lie.

The Gibson 015S Nissan is still a competitive car several years after its first appearance. How do you explain its long life?
I think that obviously the design at the outset was very strong. I can’t speak for what the car was like five years ago because I wasn’t in endurance, but ever since I’ve been driving it, it’s been good. I think Jota do a fantastic job with the car and know it inside out. The upgrade package for this season has made it much more competitive, especially in the low downforce tracks like Paul Ricard. We now maintain a downforce with less drag. The weakness of this car was always the drag. We always had good grip and good downforce, but drag has always been a problem. We really seem to have improved that and it’s an all-round good car.

Are you fully concentrated on endurance or do you still have a look at what’s happening in single-seater?
Well I’m a racing fan so I’m always looking at all forms – single-seaters, touring cars, anything – but my mind is fully on endurance. I made the step in 2014 and it’s been a very positive one for me. I really want to continue with that and winning Le Mans in LM P1 and overall is my ultimate goal.

David Bristol / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, WEDNESDAY 10 JUNE 2015, PRACTICE SESSIONS. The 24 Hours of Le Mans was a tough experience for Harry Tincknell in 2015, but he aims to bounce back this year.