The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fife driver Jonny Adam tells of his pride at adding Le Mans win to his CV
MOTOR SPORT: Kirkcaldy racer says it is good to be part of history
Fifer Jonny Adam has told Courier Sport of his pride at bringing the #97Aston Martin Vantage across the line to victory in the 85th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Porsche took overall honours in the LMP 1 category of the blue riband endurance event, but a five-manufacturer GTE Pro category battle was the story of Le Mans 2017, bringing the British marque its first GT win at the French classic since 2008.
Partnering Englishman Darren Turner and Brazilian Daniel Serra, reigning double British GT champion Adam has now added Le Mans winner to his CV at just the second time of asking.
A trackside crowd of 250,000 and global television audience of millions watched the Kirkcaldy 32-year-old hunt down the #63 Corvette of Jordan Taylor in the final stint. He surged past the American with just a lap remaining.
“The whole spirit of Le Mans is about never giving up, and on those last laps I knew I had to go for it,” he said.
“I had wanted to attack throughout every stint, and as a driver you can only dream about being in a position to win Le Mans on the last lap so you must take that chance,” he added.
“It’s definitely nice to be part of history and I think it will go down as the race of all races because of the way it was fought from the first lap to the last.
“Last year was a nice milestone in my career. I had always wanted to race at Le Mans and to be able to do that, and bring the car home to a strong finish, was great.
“But this year was different. There was a real feeling all the way through the team that we were going to be good here this year,” he said.
“The reaction to the win was quite overwhelming and it certainly didn’t fully sink in at the weekend, but I think it is now.
“When you get the big chiefs of the race organisers and the championship coming up and thanking you for racing hard, racing fair and putting on such a great spectacle for the huge crowd, that means a lot.”
The factory driver is in French endurance action this weekend with Oman Racing at the 1,000km of Paul Ricard.