How do you feel after seeing yourself on a big screen during the closing stages of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June? You must be very emotional!

“Absolutely. All that emotion comes flooding back. It’s harsh, because we weren’t ready for that sort of drama. There are always ups and downs in sport: a hard-fought victory, withdrawing from a race or a failure of any sort. But in June, we were within a hair’s breadth of victory and it slipped away at the last minute. It was so unexpected, unbelievably cruel. It’s the sort of scenario you just don’t envisage. Within minutes, a wave of kindness and sympathy ran through the paddock. It was so great, I was completely overwhelmed. [Hugues de Chaunac received over 500 SMS messages of sympathy and support after the race]. I realised that everyone was in shock."

The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is being reworked, although it is already very efficient. What areas are you working on?

“Toyota Gazoo Racing aims to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2017. So we’ll need to be just as reliable as this year, and a little bit faster. We’re reexamining everything, to see where we can find that extra speed without sacrificing reliability. Neel Jani has already said that Porsche will be looking to be quicker next year. So we absolutely have to improve too."

In your role as CEO of Oreca, you are also working on the new Oreca 07 for the LM P2 class. How would you sum up what you have achieved with the Oreca 05?

“We did superbly well. Over two years, the car won a stack of races. It won the LM P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans both years. [2015 with KCMG and 2016 with Signatech Alpine.] That’s an excellent record, and a great springboard for the next version, the Oreca 07. I must admit, I can breathe easier now that the 07 has been tested on track. It definitely comes from good stock. Nicolas Lapierre, our development manager, is pleased with the result. The aim is for the 07 to be as successful as the 05. I am impressed by the engineers’ accomplishments. The standard will be high next year and the new generation of cars will be far better than anything we’ve seen before."

Nicolas Lapierre has already tried the car at Circuit Paul Ricard. Where are you with the testing procedures?

“We’ve just done the third session. There were no problems. The next one will be at Sebring in Florida mid December."

How many chassis have you already sold?

“Fifteen or so. Which is a really good score. The Oreca 07 will be on circuits all over the world because we have sold it to American, Asian and European teams."