My First Le Mans - Sébastien Buemi

Back in 2012, the Swiss driver arrived in sportscar racing after his Formula 1 career stalled, despite some excellent races and results for the Toro Rosso F1 team between 2009 and 2011.

With the advent of the WEC, Buemi was snapped up by Toyota as it planned to re-engage with endurance racing after an absence of 13 years.

“My aims were not so high - Toyota was initially not supposed to race in 2012, the plan was to join in 2013,” recalls Buemi about the 2012 Le Mans debut of Toyota.

“But when Peugeot pulled out, Toyota agreed to commit to be present for the championship, otherwise Audi would have been alone – but we were definitely not really ready for Le Mans. We still managed to put on a good show, because I think at some point Nico (Lapierre) was leading the race and [our car] was in the mix until Anthony (Davidson) had his big accident.”

Buemi refers to Davidson’s terrifying accident at Mulsanne Corner following contact with an LMGTE Am Ferrari, which saw Davidson’s car launched into the air and then into the barriers. The British driver had several months of recuperation after sustaining back injuries.

“It was a big fright but the good thing was that Anthony was able to recover and return even stronger,” explains Buemi.  “I remember the first whole Le Mans experience for me as an amazing one - I was discovering everything, it was a very professional atmosphere in the team and I fitted in quickly.”

Buemi then recalls his outing at last year’s event where he took Toyota’s first victory at La Sarthe alongside team-mates Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima.

“In LMP1 we focus solely on the driving and only on the small details, whereas if you are in a different kind of team or category it’s completely freestyle in many ways. There are amateur drivers which is new, and then there are cars that are about 40 seconds a lap slower than you so there is so much going on.”

“You just need to be able to adapt. I think one of the most important qualities you need as an endurance driver is the fact of being able to adapt to different kinds of situations. At Le Mans, you have to adapt or your race is finished,” concludes Buemi.