24h Le Mans
During the fifteenth edition of petit le mans at road atlanta (georgia, usa) on the 20th of october, gunnar jeannette will be the first american driver to race the nissan deltawing that he will share it with the lucas ordonez.
Born May 5, 1982, Gunnar Jeannette is the youngest driver to have completed 24 hours. That was in 2000, when he had just celebrated his eighteenth year, driving a Porsche 996 GT3 R. His best performance to date was fifth place overall, won in 2003 with Olivier Beretta and Max Papis, with the famous front engined Panoz LMP1.At the Le Mans 24 2012 he was unfortunately forced to retire in one of the two Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.
You raced at Le Mans this year, did you see the Nissan DeltaWing on track?
“I was driving a Ferrari 458 GT car at Le Mans this year and I got to see the DeltaWing up close. I remember coming out of Tertre Rouge, accelerated up to sixth gear and saw some lights in my mirror which I didn’t recognize. It was a bit like a UFO experience. It wasn’t until it was alongside me and went flying by that I realized it was the DeltaWing. It was a pretty unique moment for me because there definitely hasn’t been car like this in a long while that is so unique.”
How excited are you being selected to drive the Nissan DeltaWing?
“I’m very excited to be the first American driver to compete in the car when it makes its debut right here in the USA. I’m joining forces again with Don Panoz who gave me a big break back in 2002 when I got to drive the Panoz LMP-1 roadster. It is a bit of a homecoming for me in that regard but also the chance to work with Ben Bowlby and everybody at Nissan is an incredible opportunity that I am really looking forward to.”
What are you expecting the car will be like to drive?
“I’m expecting it to be very different from most other cars that I have driven before. I always love new challenges and I can’t wait to leave pit lane for the first time and see what the Nissan DeltaWing is like.”
How much are you looking forward to working with Lucas Ordonez?
“Lucas has obviously come into the sport from a very different background through the Nissan GT Academy program. He stood on the podium at Le Mans on his debut so he certainly knows what he is doing. He already has a lot of miles in the Nissan DeltaWing and I have a million miles around Road Atlanta – we’re both going to learn a lot off of each other in the weeks ahead.”
