How Lotterer has found it challenging adapting to LMP2

Three-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Andre Lotterer has revealed some of the challenges he has faced getting up to speed with LMP2 machinery as he makes his class debut.

Lotterer is driving the IDEC Sport-run #18 ORECA-Gibson 07 as part of the team’s tie-up with Genesis Magma Racing, which is due to enter the Hypercar ranks with Lotterer next year.

He is teamed with two Le Mans rookies, W Series dominator Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert, but the car was originally due to be driven by former Formula 1 racer Logan Sargeant before he abruptly quit the project prior to the start of the European Le Mans Series season.

Lotterer only completed one test day at Paul Ricard in the LMP2 machine before heading to Le Mans and struggled to extract a lap time from the car in qualifying with the IDEC crew being one of five not progressing to Hyperpole.

Despite his 13 previous Le Mans starts, Lotterer admitted he “overdrove” as he tried to get used to his new steed’s capabilities.

“It’s definitely different but fun,” he told Autosport of his move to LMP2.

“The LMP2 car is really fun to drive, it’s light, agile, a bit quicker than a Hypercar in the corners, so you really push hard in the Porsche Curves, Tertre Rouge.

“That’s all good, I just need to learn a bit more about the tyre.

“I think I overdrove the car completely in qualifying, expecting more grip from the tyres, so my chicanes and slow-speed stuff was not so good.

“I didn’t cut the kerbs enough in the chicanes so didn’t extract everything, but in the race it should be fine.”

Lotterer explained he is still learning about the Goodyear tyres used in the LMP2 class and how best to maximise performance.

“It’s more like a longitudinal tyre so you have to almost be off the brakes when you send a car into a corner and I’m not really used to that,” he added.

“The high-speed stuff the car feels really good so there I think I’m in the game. I’m just fine-tuning a bit the driving style around the tyres and I should be fine.”

Nevertheless, Lotterer said he was “a bit disappointed” about the 14th place in qualifying but admitted the “consolation” is that the grid order is not critical to determining the final result.