Photo : D.R. ACO/Nikon

 

The story of André Lotterer's helmet evokes the multicultural origins and multilingualism of this two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner of German nationality, Peruvian father and whose career owes a lot to Japan.

André Lotterer: "The story of my helmet's design goes back to my years in karting. My father being Peruvian, there were the red, white and red squares of the flag of Peru at the top of the helmet, with the German flag on the sides. After having completely overhauled the design when I left to race in Japan, I came back to my starting point when I met the Dutch artist who also handles Benoît's helmet (Tréluyer, his teammate in the No. 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro), and Benoît really likes his work. This artist was able to come back to my old design and modernize it. I kept the squares on the top and the two bars, and let him take care of the rest. He added some Japanese ideograms whose form I appreciate. The one on top means 'the best of hope for things to come', and on the side is 'hunter' because I am always pushing and hunting victory. When I was young, I spent a lot of time drawing my helmet on sheets of paper. Now, unfortunately I don't have time anymore. But I really like designing and it would have pleased me to study it had I not been successful as a driver."

For more information about André Lotterer go to his Facebook and Twitter.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 1 2014, TEST DAY. Along with Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer (here at the wheel) claimed two victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011 and 2014.