LMP2 Le Mans champ Harry Tincknell was handed the keys to the WEC kingdom recently, when the Devon demon was invited to drive this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour winning #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at the Misano race track in Italy.
The drive was arranged by Motorsport Magazine, for Tincknell to driver the Audi on the back of Tincknel’sl himself winning the LMP2 class victory with JOTA Sport at Le Mans this year.
Although only completing a handful of laps on used Michelins, Tincknell impressed the team, with Audi Motorsport boss, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich keeping a watchfull eye on proceedings.
Tincknell himself was positively beaming about the experience, as he recalled for his feature available in this month’s Motorsport Magazine.
“Driving the Audi was a dream come true and it is days like I had at Misano which I have been working for my whole career to experience. The first experience of the putting my foot down was incredible. The power was like nothing that I had ever experienced before. The car felt like a spaceship for the first two laps, huge levels of downforce and ultra efficient braking.
“Driving a diesel race car for the first time, the immediate thing you notice is how quiet it is. In the braking zones you hear the hybrid working hard to regenerate the energy to use on the next straight.
“Of course it was an amazing experience to drive a car so well engineered. I’m currently racing in the LMP2 class which is only one step down from these cars. It’s a big step up in terms of speed but in some areas, the LMP2 car is very close, in the slow speed corners for example, so I think I am in the perfect place to learn and hopefully one day step up into that pinnacle class of sportscar racing.”