Four Time Le Mans Winner Dalmas Behind The Wheel Again

FIA Driver Adviser for the WEC, Yannick Dalmas, got back behind the wheel of a top sports prototype today, some 14 years since he last drove such a car.

The Frenchman completed 10 laps in the Porsche 919 Hybrid and the Toyota TS050 HYBRID in order to have a better understanding of today’s LMP1 hybrid prototypes. He was keen not to compare the two cars but expressed his overall impressions from behind the wheel.

"There is so much more for drivers to do in these cars today than in the past. You have to do a lot of training: not just physical or mind training, but also driving style and maybe having an aptitude for computer games helps so you can control the many buttons on the steering wheel. It’s also about your relationship with your engineers, not just the one who talks to you on the radio but the many behind that. For me, driving is not enough today – you have to be on another level.

"The visibility from these cars is not bad, the position of the mirrors is quite good and you have the display inside the cars to show the traffic behind you."