Welcome to my first column on the renowned dailysportscar website (Aw shucks – Ed!). Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading about my racing activities during the year.
I got my 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign underway in Qatar in early March.
I was making my debut for Hertz Team JOTA, racing a Porsche 963 Hypercar for the very first time in the near 1,200-mile, 10 hour race, sharing driving duties of the #12 Porsche with Will Stevens and Norman Nato.
I’d clocked my first miles in the Porsche around the Losail International Circuit north of Doha earlier this year in a two-day test prior to more miles in the WEC Prologue just prior to the opening race.
Obviously, the aim was to win, or claim at least a podium, but my pre-race target was to be the best-placed LMDh [Le Mans Daytona h] car, and score good, solid points for the season.
I was confident I’d be on the pace speed wise even though it was a new car to me but fully aware I needed to acclimatise with my new team-mates and to the team itself. The hybrid system on the Porsche isn’t too different compared to the F1 cars I’ve driven and I took a lot of advice from the team plus Will [Stevens] who raced the car last year.
I was delighted with second place overall and the first ‘privateer’ team home which earned us the lead in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams standings.
Hertz Team JOTA did an amazing job and the team was incredible to work with. They made it super easy for me on my Hypercar debut as did my team-mates.
I set the third quickest time in Hyperpole qualifying for a second row place – a good starting position for the team. I think there could have been a little bit more [time] but not a bad effort for my first qualifying hypercar session.
It was a very, very long race and we battled hard. We made no mistakes, had solid pace and undertook a different strategy to our rivals – trying to extend our stints and it paid off.
We all kept chipping away and, ultimately, after great strategy and team-work, I was catching the second-placed car in the closing laps. Unfortunately for them, their car stopped on the penultimate lap.
I’d arrived in Qatar having tested with the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in late February which came about as the team’s regular driver, David Malukas, needed surgery to repair torn ligaments in his dislocated left wrist, injuries suffered in a mountain biking accident.
The test must have gone well as I was then asked to contest the opening round of this year’s NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No.6 McLaren Chevrolet at St Pete’s. It’s obviously super tight as a championship but the progression was really good over the weekend.
I became more and more comfortable and coming into the race, we had a lot of pace. But the race turned into a fuel saving procession so it was hard to make up any real ground and I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks, just score points for the team.
I was back out in the McLaren at a unique, one-off, non-championship race later in March. The Thermal Club is a private racetrack located in the Palm Springs desert of California. The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge. All teams had a total of nine hours of testing to tune cars for qualifying, just two eight-minute sessions with the previously chosen groups from the draw party.
I set the eighth fastest time in the second heat which was disappointing and tough. We’d had the pace all day; the No.6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet felt great. But unfortunately, the qualifying results didn’t show that.
The start of Heat 2 was strong and a bit scrappy, fighting quite hard with Tom Blomqvist. I had some contact with him but we just didn’t have the pace from there. Overall the weekend was a missed opportunity. We were super strong in practice, and it’s a shame we couldn’t do more with it.
I did an Open Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the No.6 McLaren. It was meant to be a two-day event but the opening day’s afternoon action was rained-off as was Day 2 totally unfortunately. But turned some laps in the morning of the first day and had some fun at 220+mph.
I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity and big thanks to Chief Executive Officer of McLaren Racing Zak Brown, Team Principal Gavin Ward, and Sporting Director Tony Kanaan for giving me those IndyCar opportunities.
Then it was back to WEC action at Imola, a track I knew reasonably well having raced there in 2016 in Formula 3, but it turned out to be a difficult weekend overall. We struggled a bit pace wise.
I ended up ninth in Hyperpole, times were tight, then in the race, we hovered around the top-10 before I made an error. But the team and I learned a lot which we can use for the next race at Spa and beyond.
The following weekend I went to the Monaco E-Prix as a guest of the organisers which was a cool experience. I think they do a great job on the event side and obviously Monaco is a tremendous event and venue. It was nice to watch the action and catch-up with a few old racing mates.
But now it’s time for Spa. I should have raced there in 2021, in the 24 Hour race, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo but it retired before I had got behind the wheel. Before that, in FIA F2 Championship the previous year. Also raced in GP3 (2018) and F3 European (2015/16/17) so have done a few laps around the Ardennes track! Fingers crossed for Saturday.
Pics Drew Gibson, Nick Dungan, DPPI
