After a one-year break, you’re returning to the Spa 24 Hours which you won in 2011. What does this race mean to you?

Spa 2011 was a special race in my career. The team was fantastic, just like my team-mates Timo Scheider and Greg Franchi. I really liked the race because of the large number of cars competing in the same category and driving at a similar pace. That’s why it was a pretty long battle. I absolutely wanted to return to enjoy this great competition again.

What is different today compared to back then?

I’m running with new team-mates now. Edward Sandström has been a friend of mine for many years and now we’re driving together for the first time. When I won in 2011, he finished as the runner-up. With Marcel Fässler I’m sharing a cockpit for the first time as well. I’m very much looking forward to this driver combination, to the Audi R8 LMS ultra and to the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.

What makes the track at Spa so attractive?

It’s the combination that makes the track attractive. Slow turns, fast corners, hilltops, long straights – plus it’s a wide and thus very safe track. I like many of the sections. The one I like best is the double left-hand turn in the middle sector.

In your career you’ve almost exclusively been driving sprint races. What’s the biggest difference when you’re preparing for an endurance race now?

You drive a lot more often. In the DTM, your personal batteries are drained after an hour. An hour of racing at Spa is strenuous as well but afterward you’ve got to be fit again very quickly and achieve a high level of concentration. I’m hoping for a race without incidents so that I’ll be able to actually drive all the scheduled stints.

The Audi R8 LMS ultra is directly based on a production car whereas your RS 5 DTM has been exclusively designed for racing. Is driving the R8 similarly enjoyable?

Naturally, the GT3 car is great fun to drive as well, especially since the R8 LMS ultra has continuously been subjected to further development. The GT sports car feels similar to a DTM car of the previous generation. Of course, the distribution of weight is clearly different. But output is excellent, aerodynamics has consistently been improved and the performance of the tires is similar to that of our option tires in the DTM. On the test day in the rain, I felt absolutely comfortable after just five laps at Spa. We’re going to start the weekend in an unassuming manner and are going to carefully proceed step by step. My feeling is that we’ve got all the ingredients to be in contention.

Source : Audi