So how was the 24 Hours of Le Mans for you?

“The first stages of the race were tough for us. We lost time with our strategy and the wrong choice of tyres. We lost more than a minute so we had to work our way back up to the front. We pulled out all the stops and, around midnight, we were in the lead again. Then we started to widen the gap on our opponents, moving a minute and a half ahead. Everything went well after that and we didn’t really have any issues from then on. The second half was more about managing the race but that’s never easy, especially at Le Mans where you can’t afford mistakes. In the end, it went well – none of the crew or drivers did anything wrong. It was wonderful to hear La Marseillaise up on the podium, it was really quite emotional. It’s a great results for Alpine at an important time for the marque with the launch of its new car next year. They’ve worked very hard this year to achieve the results they want.”

How do you see the rest of your season in the World Endurance Championship?

“It will be hard to maintain our lead because there is not that much of a gap with teams like G-Drive Racing. They have a competitive car and crew. We’ll take it one race at a time and aim to win, then we’ll see how things stand at the end of the season. But of course we are aiming for the title, especially after our last two wins [Spa and Le Mans, Ed.].”

Are you guaranteed LM P2 success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans if you have Nicolas Lapierre on your team?

“[laughter] Winning twice in a row is just extraordinary, especially as so many factors come into play if you want to win the race. I’m very lucky in that I am surrounded by some great people, I have some excellent teammates and a reliable, competitive car. All of that counts and I’m just one small part of the overall equation. I’m just really proud to have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with two different outfits.”

You also compete in ELMS with Dragonspeed. Can you tell us a bit more about the team?

“I feel very much at home with them. It is a young team competing in LM P2 for the first time. We are learning from one race to another because there are two rookies on the team, Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley. At the start of the season, we were still learning the ropes but at Imola, we proved how competitive we could be [Lapierre took pole, Ed.]. We finished third, we could even have come second. Things are moving forward very quickly and if we can win a race before the end of the season, that will be fantastic. They are planning on entering two cars in the European Le Mans Series in 2017. Things are moving fast for them.”