"... no time for tactics"

He drives an Aston Martin, wears the number 007 and loves car chases at the most decadent places on earth. His next one is going to be 24 hours long: Wendlinger, Karl Wendlinger, is competing in Le Mans.

Your goal for the season may be the FIA-GT World Championship title, but in a few days’ time you’ll be competing in the 76th 24 Hours of Le Mans. What is it about this race that’s so irresistible?

The circuit itself and its history. There aren’t any courses this long any more, which you can race with high-end racing cars at these speeds.

How have your tactics changed for the 24-hour race since your first Le Mans race?

In 1991, when I first participated in Le Mans, the Sauber Team stipulated piling up lap times of 3:40 minutes, which considering the possible 3:21 minutes, means you still had a lot of reserve. Since 1999, when the teams BMW, Toyota, Audi or Peugeot again invested a lot of money in the development of their cars, there’s no time to use tactics any more: You simply have to step on the gas from start to finish. But that only works if the track is dry. When it rains, anything can happen, and tactics can work pretty well.

At the pre-qualifying rounds you came fifth. Are you happy with that?

Our pre-qualifying times don’t mean much because during the hour when it was possible to clock up very fast lap times with slicks we weren’t on the track. That’s why a fifth place is actually quite a respectable outcome. A qualifying like in Formula 1 doesn’t exist in the 24-hour Le Mans race. The grid positions are based on the training times from the days that follow. But the outcome is that the main competitors for the victory will be the Aston Martin DBR9 and the Chevrolet Corvettes.

But you know qualifyings from your time as Formula 1 driver. As an insider, how do you see the Formula 1 of today?

What really impresses me about Formula 1 is that the manufacturers and engineers still manage to make a faster Formula 1 car again and again, despite the various rule changes. On the other hand, I think it’s a shame that every year there are hardly more than two teams or four cars that have the potential to run for the World Championships.

You’ve driven cars in different series, Saubers, Peugeots, Porsches, Vipers, Aston Martins. Which one was the most spectacular for you to drive?

The most spectacular and also the fastest were the Group C cars Sauber C11 and Peugeot 905. These can reach speeds of up to 400 km/h; had a lot of downforce, and even at the limit were still manageable.

You’ve already competed in the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring, in Spa and Daytona, where you even managed to win the overall title in 2000. Despite all this, is Le Mans still the biggest race for you?

The 24 hours on the Nordschleife (“northern loop”) are tougher due to the number of participants, the length of the circuit and the darkness. But Le Mans has the most interesting cars, the best field of drivers and is the race with the biggest challenge.

All the more because you’re competing with your Aston Martin as kind of a James Bond double …

It’s great to have the number 007, but I think we can do without the sort of Bond stunts involving flying cars that occurred in the qualifyings.