Would a victory at last year’s Le Mans 24 hrs have persuaded Alex Wurz not to retire in Bahrain last month? Though doubtful, the win would definitely have provided at least one more memorable moment to a string of achievements before the Austrian hung up his helmet.
“I’d put so much effort into 2014 and into the race preparation that I found it very difficult to move on after the DNF”, Wurz admitted in a statement, shedding some light on the frustration associated with losing the opportunity to win at Le Mans last year after leading close to 15 hours into the race.
Among his previous six starts at Circuit de la Sarthe, Wurz had achieved two victories in his first three attempts, with the Team Joest-run Porsche in 1996 and Peugeot in 2009.
The significance of such an achievement was more than evident on the faces of Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy as they celebrated their debut at Le Mans crown; handing Porsche their first outright victory at Le Mans since 1996.
Ironically it was Wurz who, 19 years ago, was the rookie driver in the #7 car run by Team Joest, which beat the two Porsche factory’s cars and helped secure the last victory for the Stuttgart-based manufactory before it took an extended sabbatical from the sport in 1997.
“Obviously it was the two Le Mans victories, “the two-time Le Mans winner speaking on his best memories in sports-car on 6 Hours of Bahrain - the final showdown of WEC 2015 season.
“The first one was amazing, when I was so young, and I didn’t really know what was happening. It was just so easy, and only later I realised (how special) that Le Mans victory was. There was strong competition against Porsche factory team.”
Not only that day give Wurz the opportunity to claim his maiden Le Mans trophy, but also it re-ignited his career; lighting the way toward his dream to become an F1 driver.
“A few months before I went to Le Mans (in 1996), I thought my racing career was going to finish as I had no money to continue but the present from Le Mans victory came along”, said Wurz. “It was just special. It gave me F1 career.”
Wurz joined Benetton as a test driver at the beginning of 1997 starting an eleven-year F1 career that spanned 69 races, 45 points, three podium finishes and one fastest lap. He showed his promise by reaching the podium on his third attempt; filling in for the ill fellow Austrian Gerhard Berger at 1997 British Grand Prix in the Benetton B197.
Alexander also holds the record for the longest gap between two podiums. After almost eight years since the third place at Silverstone, he bookended the result at the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix subbing for an ‘injured’ Juan Pablo Montoya, which was also his only starts for McLaren during his long time service as a test driver.
2007 saw his first full-time season since 200. At Montreal, he took third place for Williams – storming back from the 19th on the grid. Despite a relatively successful season at Grove in 2007, , the Austrian surprisingly announced his retirement from F1 with immediate effect after that year’s Chinese Grand Prix. However, rumours of a Le Mans return were rife.
True to form, Wurz joined Peugeot’s LMP1 project in 2008 with two races in Le Mans 24 Hours and the 1000km of Spa. He seemed destined to achieve greater success behind the steering wheel of a sports-car.
The 2009 Le Mans 24 Hours saw a much stronger Peugeot factory team and a tighter competition between the two Peugeot 908s. When the hour hand
reached the 3 on Sunday afternoon, it was the car shared by Wurz, David Brabham and Marc Gene that took line honours, finishing a lap ahead of the sister car.
"The second win with Peugeot was special also,” recalled the 41-year-old Austrian.” It was a very intensive battle inside the team, also against Audi. Winning it was just amazing because the podium at Le Mans is so special.
"When you have 60,000 people celebrating with you…They’ve been through the same hard 24 hours with you. Winning it is amazing."
Peugeot decided to quit from the sport after just two years, while Wurz continued his adventure becoming the first driver hired by Toyota for its LMP1 effort in 2012 when the inaugural World Endurance Championship was introduced.
After missing the first two rounds of the season, Wurz claimed the first pole position and maiden victory for the Japanese manufacture in its third WEC race at Interlagos. The victory was followed by another two stunning wins at Toyota-owned Fuji and Shanghai.
Like Le Mans, stringing together a competitive WEC season requires the same ingredients; speed and reliability. While the Toyota TS030 Hybrid was quick in its first two seasons, its lack of reliability hurt the Japanese marque on several occasions.
In 2014, the brand new Toyota TS040 Hybrid proved to be the whole package and found itself fighting with Audi’s R18 e-tron quattro for both championships.
At the penultimate race of the season, in Bahrain, Wurz and his partners Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin took their only win of the season, helping Toyota maintain the gap ahead of Audi on constructors’ championship while their teammates Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi took the drivers’ world title. Despite the delay, the season finale in Sao Paulo saw Toyota clinch its first sports car constructors’ world title with five victories in eight races.
Unfortunately it was not to be repeated in 2015 as their stunning 2014 effort had already pushed Toyota to the limit of its budget. As such the TS040 Hybrid failed to match the pace-setting Porsche 919 Hybrid or Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
Images: AlexWurz.com