In Formula One I saw many fatal accidents. When I got the opportunity to drive for Porsche at Le Mans – and also before that in Formula One – today's safety standards did not yet exist. Stuck: I definitely had respect, even later. In your Le Mans debuts, you were able to draw on previous endurance experience. André Lotterer will pilot the number six works car. The Porsche 963 hybrid racer will compete at Le Mans for the first time in 2023. Indy didn't work out, in Monaco I came fourth once, but when I stood on the podium for the first time at Le Mans, I had achieved one of the three goals.

And I thought to myself, gosh, I'd like to win one of those. Unfortunately, he never competed at Le Mans, but in conversations it became clear to me that there are three important races: the Indy 500, the Monaco Grand Prix and Le Mans. Stuck: I attended my father's last evening of racing – he drove until he was 62 years old and even won at Monza. My dad had a Rothmans Porsche in his office, which I always wanted to play with but was never allowed to (laughs). There was no way around it! Because my father’s team was a Porsche customer team, they got big models of these cars. Of course, I always followed the race, and for me, even at a young age, the Group C racers were the coolest cars. My father ran a racing team there, but unfortunately it didn’t race at Le Mans. Lotterer: For me, the focus was more on the Spa 24 Hours because I grew up in Belgium. What role did Le Mans play in your youth? As a driver, you were on the road a lot back then, but it wasn't quite as exhausting as it is today. On a Saturday, I would be racing in F1 at Brands Hatch and on the Sunday I’d be in a touring car in Diepholz. Stuck: There were times in the 1970s when I drove 36 races a year in Formula One, Formula Two and touring cars. What was it like for you, Hans-Joachim Stuck? Sebring, Stuttgart, São Paulo – André Lotterer's last few weeks sum up just how much travel is involved in being a modern-day racing driver.

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