Success Comes from Teamwork Trumping Competition
By Jeff Olson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – When they win together, drivers spend a good portion of their postrace press conference complimenting one another.
Driver A had a great qualifying run, Driver B says. Driver B had a flawless stint late in the race, Driver A says. Driver C saved fuel perfectly, Driver B says.
Endurance racing is an unusual animal. Drivers can’t win without the other drivers on their team, but those teammates are competing against one another while seeking the same goal. If they complement each other during the race, they’ll compliment each other afterward.
That’s the trick behind the team dynamic Saturday in the 26th running of the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Six teams are mathematically alive for the championship in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class – three of them within five points of the lead.
“Endurance racing is not an individual race – it’s a group of people working together to achieve one goal,” says Filipe Albuquerque, who will team with Ricky Taylor and Louis Deletraz to try to win the 10-hour race in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06. “Generally, drivers are selfish because we are always competing to be the best.”
The key, then, to winning endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is teamwork, drivers say. Help, don’t hide. Assist, don’t accuse. Fit in, don’t stand out.
“If you have in your personality the ability to put aside that ego and understand that if your team wins, you win,” Albuquerque said. “All your secrets help your teammates to be better. Then you become better.”
Becoming better means adding a third driver to the Petit Le Mans lineup, and few are better suited than Laurens Vanthoor. He’ll join the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 from his role on Porsche’s FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) team.
Vanthoor’s experience with the Porsche 963 in the WEC and previous experience with Petit Le Mans and the WeatherTech Championship are welcomed by Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy, who Vanthoor will join in the No. 6 Porsche.
“In the end, the process and how we operate is pretty similar to what he experienced in WEC,” Jaminet said. “He fits in the team pretty easily, to be honest. Obviously, he’s extremely quick. That’s one of the reasons why he’s also with us this weekend. He’s definitely up to speed in the car, so it’s great to have him with us. He knows IMSA, he knows the race. It’s a good fit for us.”
Co-drivers aren’t the only teammates essential to winning Petit and the championship. Engineers, strategists and crew members played crucial roles in getting the hybrid-based GTP cars up and operable in their first season.
“There was so much learning in just a few months before we went racing,” said Pipo Derani, who will team with Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken in the championship-leading No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R. “In that regard, obviously, you want to make sure that you are the first one to bring a championship home.”
It’s a collection of individual performances with a team goal in mind.
“It’s a very thin line that separates that,” Albuquerque said. “In endurance racing, that’s the tricky part. There’s still the undeniable competition. The engineers will always see the pace of each driver, who is the strongest. We try to bring the motto to the team to look at it with an open mind.”
If all goes well, compliments will abound.