Le Mans – Nakajima: “This lap will have been enough”

Kazuki Nakajima learned that he was the first Japanese to win pole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans that at the end of the qualifications, the last promising minutes of which were made in vain by a Slow Zone deployed following the exit of Karun Chandhok. But the performance of the Japanese driver is nevertheless impressive since he achieved a lap in 3'21"789 with 0"357 on the Porsche n°14 led by Neel Jani.

“Pole is important and it’s still fantastic to start from first place even at the 24 Hours of Le Mans”, comments the one who offered the Japanese manufacturer its first pole in Sarthe since that obtained by Martin Brundle in 1999 with the GT-One. “It’s a great feeling and I’m really happy with the car. I thank the team who prepared such a good car for the race. I suffered from the traffic but I managed to benefit from a clear lap and that was enough to get pole. It will be a difficult race but tonight I am happy. »

His teammates are also delighted, especially since it is the crew of the Toyota No. 8 (Davidson-Stone-Buemi), holder of third place on the grid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, who leads the WEC. " It's incredible to be on pole again because I've already had three in my career.", comments Stéphane Sarrazin. “Kazuki did a sublime job. We had a good car yesterday but it became really competitive. The settings were impeccable thanks to the work of the team. It's promising because we are really comfortable. We can attack every corner on every lap. All points are positive. The race will be very long, we know it, and we must be calm and not approach this event like a sprint. » The Austrian in the crew shares the enthusiasm of his teammates. “I’m super happy! It's really a good result. We are not only happy with the pole, but also with the work done today. We can be really positive before the race. Kazuki did really well doing a banzai trick! »

The start of the 82nd edition of the 24 Hours will take place tomorrow at 15 p.m. and will be followed live and in full on AUTOhebdo.fr. Photos of the tests can be viewed on this link.