Pirro Power!

Until 1999, when the Audi era at Le Mans began, the 49-year-old Roman had competed just twice at La Sarthe, as a 19 year old in 1981 with a Lancia Beta Monte Carlo and 16 years later with a McLaren F1 GTR. Both races ended in retirement but in the 11 years since he finished third in the Audi R8R, Emanauele has five winners trophies and three more for podium finishes.

After sitting out last year’s race, Emanuele returns to the scene of his greatest victorieswith Drayson Racing and the eye-catching Lola B10/60 LMP1 car. Still with fire in his belly,Emanuele is relishing heading up the chase of the diesel cars this year.

“It’s going to be wonderful. Last year I went to Le Mans without driving and that was a strange feeling but it’s going to be a great Le Mans week this year because I am back at the wheel and back at Le Mans, the greatest race in the world.” Pirro has immediately got in to the swing of driving the Lola Coupe and getting used to a normally-aspirated engine for the first time and believes that the handling characteristics of the Huntingdon-designed and built car gives him and the team a chance of a top result this weekend.“The Lola has got a very stable platform, it rides the road well and it has got very good downforce. More than that, the car doesn’t change much by changing attitude when you brake, you don’t really lose so much load in the rear, when you roll, you don’t lose so muchdownforce. The amount of grip stable with the Lola and that inspires lots of confidence withinthe driver.

“I want to keep my feet on the ground, as the race is very long and the longer the race is, the more the bigger teams stand out compared to smaller teams. I think we have to prepare the race the best possible way and to survive without winning the race in the first corner or making any major mistakes. I am sure if we hang on until the end without major mistakes, we will be not too far from the leaders.”