Le Mans 24 Hours 2016: Oliver Jarvis looking to build on 'crazy' Spa victory that proves anything can happen

Audi secured a 'crazy' victory at Spa through Jarvis, Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Duval, and this year's Le Mans 24 Hours suggests more of the same is on the horizon

Britain's Oliver Jarvis took his first WEC victory at Spa and has high hopes for Le Mans

A gruelling 24 hour slog on one of the world's most challenging circuits can make or break any driver, so it's always handy to head to Le Mans off the back of your first World Endurance Championship victory.

That's exactly what Britain's Oliver Jarvis does this weekend, as along with Audi team-mates Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Ducal, the 32-year-old bids to record back-to-back triumphs following victory in the Six Hours of Spa.

Of course, Le Mans is a fair bit tougher than Spa - four times as long in duration with a lap distance nearly double that of the famous Belgium circuit - but after standing on the top step of the podium for the first time following a "crazy" race, Jarvis is in confident mood.

"It was one of the craziest races I’ve been involved in actually. If you’d have asked me before the race, I wouldn’t have been overly confident of a win," Jarvis told the Independent ahead of this year's Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Audi Sport Team Joest R18 of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis (Getty)

"We were struggling a little bit with the car but as is always the case in endurance racing, to finish first, first you have to finish and we did. We managed to do a good job with the team and stayed out of trouble and in the end, fortunately for ourselves our rivals had reliability issues and some problems and it meant that we were able to come out on the top step of the podium. I have to say we were slightly fortunate but we’ve been very unlucky over the last year or so and we’ll take luck when it comes our way."

Never has endurance racing seen cars perform flat out so reliably, but the advances in technology in recent years - especially in regards to the LMP1 hybrid systems - mean that it's no longer a rare sight to see all six works manufacturer cars in WEC finish every race.

However, Spa suggests that may not be the case this year. Audi, Porsche and Toyota all experienced difficulties during the second race of the season, and it's almost unthinkable that any team will go the full 24 hours without any drama of note.

"Over the last few years the cars have been so competitive and reliable that it really has been a case of the fastest car has won," Jarvis adds. "When we’re talking about races of six hours and 24 hours, anything can happen and reliability plays a huge part but I have to say certainly over the last few years the manufacturers have done such a huge job with the car that there’s very few reliability issues.

Porsche will be one of Audi's main rivals (Getty)

"However, this year it seems that the cars have become even more complicated as there’s been a few more issues. I think one of the biggest things with endurance racing is the you’re constantly overtaking slower cars, you’re always in traffic and drivers are taking huge risks so there does tend to be a few more incidents, whether it be a slight contact or puncture and that means that not always the quickest car wins. You’re trying to stay out of the pits, stay out of trouble and be quick and I think strategy also has a big role to play."

I think purely from the nature of the circuit it’s much closer to Le Mans than the likes of Silverstone. In Silverstone we ran a high downforce package whereas in Spa the majority of teams will run aerodynamic packages very similar to Le Mans. It’s not exactly the same but it’s very similar. I think it’s good to gage for Le Mans, but with the rate of development that is going on at the moment within the sport, you can’t take anything for granted. I don’t think we’ll really know the competitive nature between the three manufacturers until we actually get to the race weekend itself.

Oliver Jarvis of Great Britain and Audi Sport Team Joest R18 (Getty)

So what of Le Mans 2016? The opening two races of the season at Silverstone and Spa suggest that the race is wide open. Porsche appear to have the outright speed advantage over their rivals, but Audi are closing in on their German rivals and much improved showing from Toyota at Spa suggests they won't be as far off the pace as was feared in Silverstone.

For a team of Audi's calibre, seeing the Porsches seal the front row in qualifying will have hurt, as will the sight of the two Toyotas in the second row. Audi experienced early troubles during the faster qualifying session on Wednesday, but Jarvis is confident that they can take the fight to Porsche when the Tricolor waves on Saturday afternoon thanks to their hybrid upgrade this season.

"The big change that we’ve made this year is that we’ve moved from a four megajoule flywheel hybrid system to a six megajoule battery system," Jarvis explains. "All that really does is give us a lot of boost out of the corners in terms of power. So the way it works is it’s a hybrid system that works on the front of a car that recuperates [energy], and then it gives you a boost as you exit the corner from the front. When we exit a slow corner, as well as the 600hp we have from the engine, we have a 400hp hybrid, so it’s about a 1,000hp and that’s been the big change, and aside from that there’s a huge amount of work done on the cockpit, the aerodynamics, and it makes the car hopefully more efficient but in terms of pure driving style it’s very similar to the previous car.

"We’ve certainly closed the gap to the Porsches, I think they probably still have a slight power advantage as they’re in the eight megajoule class but we’ve managed to close that gap. At the moment so far,we appear to have a slightly quicker top speed than the Toyotas but I think they’ve been running more downforce and therefore more drag, so I think we won’t really see until we’re in Le Mans with the really long straights when you can really analyse it, but I think all three are very similar which is quite interesting because certainly in the last two years it’s been a much bigger spread."

Only two British drivers have won at Le Mans over the past 12 years, Nick Tandy with Porsche last year and Allan McNish twice in 2008 and 2013 with Audi. While Jarvis, Di Grassi and Duval won't start as favourites for the race on Saturday, history proves that means nothing at Le Mans. If the sprinkling of good fortune witnessed as Spa makes its way over to the Circuit de la Sarthe, Britain may just have another Le Mans winner to add to the collection.