Lotterer: “Hopefully more Le Mans wins will come!”
A triple Le Mans winner, the inaugural WEC champion in 2012, a two-time Japanese Super GT Champion and a fearsome competitor and winner in Super Formula. Andre Lotterer has had a glorious career but he isn’t finished just yet - nowhere near!
Leading the 2024 FIA WEC title race with Porsche Penske Motorsport team-mates Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre, the 42-year-old is one of the elder statesmen of endurance racing now. And he’s quite comfortable being in the position he’s in.
“I think if I look back what my parents have done for me, all the sacrifices that my family did for me to succeed is something that we can all be proud of together and it was all worth it,” he tells fiawec.com.
“You can take it for granted that people invest in a 12 or 13-year-old, creating debts and that the fact you made it into a successful career, well that that already in itself is something to be happy about. Everything else is for sure on top and hopefully more Le Mans wins will come.”
Lotterer is happy to look back on his achievements but he also likes looking forward. He’ll be 43-years-old later this year but he’s far from viewing that as a barrier to more success in the later stages of his glittering career.
“The first Le Mans win and the way it happened, my time there was quite epic,” he recalls about his 2011 win with teammates Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler. “But also, what I've done in Japan, you know, I went there for a year and then I stayed 15 years!
“I just tried to look back and be satisfied. But you know, racing drivers, you always want more, maybe I could have done this or could have done that, but because our mind always wants to compete and achieve more, you will maybe look at some more opportunities.
“I've not set myself an age [to retire]. I still want to race… maybe 10 years ago I thought I’d retire at 45. But what I do know is if I'm still fast and good at 45 then why not continue?”
A 21st Century Jacky Ickx?
There are several similarities between Lotterer and one of his racing heroes Jacky Ickx. Both were raised in Belgium; both have multiple Le Mans wins; and both pull off an effortless cool in the way they operate, succeed and engage with people around the paddocks of the world.
Yet Lotterer is quick to downplay the similarities and is, as ever, humble in any kind of assessment with his fellow sportscar giant.
“I don't know if I can accept that because he's such a big, charismatic and legendary person,” says Lotterer.
“So, to get anywhere close to him I feel very honoured of course. When I met him the first time in Le Mans years ago I said, ‘hey I grew up in Belgium, and I'm a big fan of yours.’ Then before I knew it we were going for dinners when I was in Belgium, or we saw each other in Monaco.
“I really have a lot of time for Jacky as a person, but also respect immensely, his career, the versatility and what he's done. But also, as a person, he is quite an impressive human being actually.”
That respect and reverence for Ickx, who won Le Mans in 1969, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981 and 1982, manifested itself in Lotterer paying a great tribute to the endurance master at the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month.
“I raced with his colours in a helmet that looks similar to his with blue and my design on the white lines. I told him, I will do that. It's nice to have his support.”
Lotterer will be back on endurance racing duty for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans, round four of FIA WEC, which takes place from 15-16 June.
