Romain Dumas answers your questions (2/2)

You who piloted a Porsche gasoline, what impressions do you get when you get into the Audi R15? (Florian6503)
What is certain is that when you get into this car, you have no sensations. There is no noise. The only noise you hear is the rolling of the gearbox. It?s very difficult to drive by feeling in these conditions. Last year, at Le Mans, it was very difficult for me to stay focused. Because I was taking the straight line, I only heard the sound of the wind, nothing more. As a result, it was easy to make a mistake, braking too late for example. Because, normally, the noise of the engine helps you to pace your pace. And here, I admit that it?s really not easy.

Getting ahead of the “mythical” Audi trio, made up of Kristensen, Capello and McNish, is that a nice surprise? Was it a goal? (cocokekos)
It surprised the people at Audi more than it surprised us. For our part, with Timo (Bernhard), we know what we can do, we know that we are not that bad. So we thought we could get ahead of them. Already, at Spa, compared to them, we were not far away in terms of pure performance. We said to ourselves, since we were not far from Spa, that we had to be at least at their level in terms of 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Are you considering participating in the 24 Hours of Daytona to improve your record? (Florian6503)
It's certain ! Monday morning, Roger Penske called me and told me that I was the champion of 6, 12 and 18 hours, because we led 6, 12 and 18, but not 24 (laughs). There, I am 32 years old, I still have a few years to try to win this race. So far, the hardest part was Le Mans. Let's not sell the bear's skin before we have killed it but I will try to have a good steering wheel next year to try to win it. I hope Penske makes a car to win Daytona?

The car seemed lacking in performance at the start of Le Mans week. What were the developments between Wednesday and Thursday? (nanny)
Wednesday evening, it’s true that we weren’t calm. It was a big challenge on the part of the engineers. We had three cars so we divided the work into three. On Thursday, everyone had a new development program to try to take advantage of it. We were able, in a few hours, going in different directions, to produce a rapid synthesis. The car was already better from the start at the start of the session then, in two hours, thanks to our work, we managed to make a lot of progress. At the end of the day, we weren't confident but we knew, at least, that the car was easy to drive.

What happens in a driver's head when we realize that we are going to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans? (Xavier M.)
This is not the funniest moment. It?s the longest. When I drove from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., when I was asked to speed up, it really wasn't easy. You know that you are in the lead, that you have a good lead, so you would like to ensure, but they want you to accelerate, so you are caught between a rock and a hard place. You don't know what to do. That was already very complicated. But it was even more so afterwards. When I got out of the car at 11am, I knew we had a real chance of winning but the last four hours were horrible. I put on earplugs, I got into bed, under the duvet, to try to isolate myself and sleep but I couldn't do it. It was the most endless four hours of my life. I did everything I could to not be aware of what was happening in the race. Move the watch forward, move it back, stay in the shower for a long time so as not to hear anything while, at the same time, the speaker speaks louder as soon as a fly flies by, you have the impression that the car is cut in two ? It was really a difficult moment to live through.

So the end of the race is more difficult for the drivers who are not in the car? (Abel Karaj)
Clearly, yes. It?s horrible to have to watch and not be able to do anything. For my part, I tried to isolate myself.

You form a complementary duo with Timo Bernhard, yet you seem very different in life. What is your secret? (rallyefred)
Of course we are different. But his advantage is that he is a very great professional. He?s a huge worker. Its goal is zero errors. If he does so, he flagellates himself. Now, we know each other very well so, basically, we are really different, but really. He knows my character, I know his, we know how far we can push the limit. I'm rather expressive, he's rather reserved. But, in racing, it?s the opposite. He is rather expressive, always asking for something, me rather reserved, often giving up, tempering things. And that?s how it works.

But everyone learned from the other. For example, he is much more aggressive than he was when he started, especially in traffic. What's also nice is that we know, when we get in the car, what the other person is going to think about it. For example, if in the corners, the car is light from the rear and we cannot be aggressive, Timo knows that I will not like it, because I am more aggressive than him. So, in these cases, he comes to the stand and says it's not going to suit me.

What does it feel like to have won the biggest endurance race in the world?
It?s difficult to realize this. On Monday morning, I woke up and said to myself “but that’s not possible!” ", I had to pinch myself to believe it. There are so many people who have told me that I made them cry that I tell them that it?s not my funeral, that they shouldn?t cry about that! But it's a very special feeling today for me.

Find the interview with Romain Dumas by AUTOhebdo next Wednesday on your newsstands.