Wurz: ''The 24 Hours of Le Mans is not enough for me''

Sooner or later love returns. Humanity knows it, pilots know it and Alex Wurz knows it. Reason cannot control the heart and motor racing is a sport where heart and passion are the basis of everything. Without a place as first or second driver in Formula 1 it would have been pointless to just be a Honda test driver, because Alexander Wurz, after his years at McLaren and Williams watching the others from the bench, is fed up and wants to race. He had the opportunity to do it last year, in a season where he was perpetually outclassed by his very strong teammate Nico Rosberg, but in the end, between the two, he went on the podium, in that crazy roulette of Montreal, which even on purpose is sponsored by the same casino in the city overlooking the San Lorenzo.

This year, Wurz has chosen to return to his first love: endurance racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans above all, the race that saw him win in 1996 together with Manuel Reuter and Davy Jones in the Porsche TWR of Team Joest. Years have passed, twelve to be precise, and what used to be the best friend has become the worst enemy, because now Joest is Audi's point man in Europe and therefore, for Alex, the first of his adversaries.

But the return may not be linked only to the Sarthe classic: the Austrian driver, famous for his two-tone shoes when the world of Formula 1 still allowed certain excesses, wants more: to participate in other events of the Le Mans Series. Wurz himself speaks about all this in a long but engaging monologue: “Returning to Le Mans was an idea I had had for some time, even before reaching an agreement with Peugeot. Desire then overwhelmed me when I saw the 908. This is why I don't think it will be a sporadic release just for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, because I am interested in a long-term job with the French brand.”

“I just got back into this series,” adds Alex, “and I have already rediscovered that enthusiasm I had when I raced at Le Mans for the first time, in 1996 with Joest: the team for which this year I will have to make life difficult.”

For some, leaving the wheels uncovered for covered ones may seem like a step backwards in your career, but for those in the know, this is absolutely not true. Alex is like this too, driven by those childhood dreams in which he saw himself as a Porsche driver on the night of Le Mans, not in a 312T shaving the guard rails of Monte Carlo.

Giacomo Sgarbossa

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