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Le Mans 24 Hours 2016: Our self-belief at JOTA Sport gives us one target - we want to win, says Will Stevens

Will Stevens is a British racing driver, who is set to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hour race, part of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), for British motor racing team JOTA Sport (G Drive Racing)

Will Stevens
Friday 17 June 2016 14:15 BST
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Former F1 driver Will Stevens will be making his Le mans debut with the JOTA Sport and G Drive Racing team
Former F1 driver Will Stevens will be making his Le mans debut with the JOTA Sport and G Drive Racing team

Here I am just a day away from racing at one of the most iconic race tracks in the world and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel. Le Mans is steeped in history and I'm excited to be taking part.

The offer to join G-Drive Racing at Le Mans came around a few weeks ago and it was one that I really wanted to take forward. A lot of drivers who have raced in Formula One go onto to compete in the WEC (World Endurance Championship) but to get the chance to race at Le Mans in my first year in endurance racing was too good an opportunity to miss.

Our driver line up is strong, and with guys like Rene Rast and Roman Rusinov in the driving seat, our team has a great chance of winning the race.

I'll be sharing the car with Roman Rusinov (left) and Rene Rast (middle) (G Drive Racing)

We know that the competition will be strong but the target is simple; we want to win. There’s no reason why we can't go and win in the LMP2 category.

It will be a challenging race for me and there will be a number of different obstacles to contend with over the course of the weekend. The biggest for me will be the lack of sleep! It’s going to be very hard for the drivers but equally as hard for the mechanics and engineers behind the scenes looking after the team’s race strategy.

I have a job to do on the track and I have competed in big races before - especially during my Formula One career - so I feel prepared and ready to go. Self-belief is a huge part of racing and you are always going to have ups and downs in your career but one thing I have learnt over the years is that self-belief can help you through that. You need to trust in what you believe in, and in what’s right, and just go with it. Self-belief gives you a huge advantage and can go a long way towards helping you succeed in any sport, especially motor racing.

Part of the Le Mans experience seesscrutineering take place in the town centre (G Drive Racing)

JOTA Sport won at Le Mans in 2014 and that experience will be invaluable this weekend. It's a real team effort to come away from here with a good result so we all need to work together. I have complete confidence I'm in the best place to get a good result. The team have made a great start to the season and I hope I can help keep the momentum going with another good performance. It's a long race so we have to stay out of trouble and make sure we do everything right. If we do that then we have a great chance!

I’m very grateful to the Manor WEC Team for releasing me for this race and we will continue to work together for the remainder of their first season in endurance racing.

There's nno reason why we can't take the No 26 G Drive Oreca to victory (G Drive Racing)

It’s been a busy couple of weeks but I can’t wait for the race to start, now that most of the preparations are out of the way. I’m enjoying the whole endurance racing scene and Le Mans is a race I've wanted to take part in for a long time. I have no doubt that this will be a special moment in my career.

Will Stevens will be competing at Le Mans, part of the FIA World Endurance Championship for British Motor Racing team JOTA Sport.

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