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LE MANS: 10 Questions With Marco Andretti
Third-generation star talks about carrying on his family’s legacy in his upcoming debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
John Dagys  |  Posted February 26, 2010   Chicago, IL
Andretti Autosport star Marco Andretti will make his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this June. (LAT)
As revealed earlier this week, Marco Andretti will make his debut Le Mans debut this year, carrying on his family’s legacy in the legendary twice-around-the-clock road racing classic. The third-generation IndyCar star follows in the footsteps of father Michael, grandfather Mario and second-cousin John as Andrettis that have raced at Le Mans. But similar to their curse in the Indianapolis 500, no Andretti has ever won at the hallowed French grounds.

Marco will be hoping to change that come June. He’s joined forces with Anglo-Swiss squad Rebellion Racing to pilot one of its Lola B10/60 Rebellions with fellow open-wheel drivers Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani. The potent lineup of young guns could surprise a few, including diesel juggernauts Audi and Peugeot, which have dominated Le Mans in recent years.


The 22-year-old star will get his first taste of the team’s LMP1 Lola Coupe at the European-based Le Mans Series’ official test at Paul Ricard on March 7-8. We caught up with Marco ahead of his trip to southern France to get his impressions on his upcoming Le Mans debut. It’s all a part of the latest installment of “10 Questions.”

DAGYS: How did the deal come about with Rebellion Racing?

ANDRETTI: Fortunately they called my manager. And when my manager called me, I took the deal in a minute. I’m not sure how they picked me, but I raced with Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani in A1GP and I think they may have been the ones who pushed for me to be their third driver. It’s cool since it seems like I did something right over there. I’m honored to have been gotten the call and can’t wait to go over there and have some fun.

DAGYS: Was one day competing at Le Mans always on your radar screen?

ANDRETTI: Absolutely. Especially with it being one of the few things our family hasn’t been able to win. It would be huge if I would be able to pull it off for the family. But as a driver, I want to win it anyways. I think that this year, if we can turn some heads and hold my own against my teammates, we can be a force to be reckoned with.

DAGYS: What has been your grandfather’s reaction to your new challenge?

ANDRETTI: He’s coming with me to the test at Paul Ricard next week. As soon as he heard this, he was as excited as I was! He’s going to be with me the entire way. He really loves that race and enjoys it. I’m going to be like a sponge on the whole airplane ride there. It will be good to have him with me for sure.
Marco Andretti competed in three ALMS races in 2008 for his father's AGR Acura squad. (LAT)

DAGYS: After gaining sportscar experience in an Acura LMP2 car, how do you think will help you adapt to the team’s LMP1 Lola?

ANDRETTI: I think it’s going to be a huge help. Just getting used to the brakes and the grip that these things have. With all of the bodywork, they create so much downforce. As a driver, I’ve never enjoyed myself so much going flat-out in Turn 1 at Sebring. It’s so fast and it creates so much grip. When you have the downforce, you’re able to carry so much speed into the corners. It’s a great feeling.

I think having that experience, and even driving the endurance race gets me in the mindset I need to be in. The mentality of bringing the car home. Yeah, we’re going to be looking to run a pretty fast pace, but at the same time, maybe not take as many chances as we would in a sprint race, like waiting a corner to pass a slower car. It’s a risk vs. reward kind of thing.

DAGYS: You were one of the stars of the 2008 Twelve Hours of Sebring, pushing the Andretti Green Racing Acura into the overall lead early on. Do you think you can take any lessons learned from that particular race, considering many think completing 12 hours at Sebring is just as brutal as 24 hours at Le Mans?

ANDRETTI: That was one of the most enjoyable races I’ve ever been in. We were in the P2 car leading overall. That was good fun. I think Sebring is more about handling, though. Because if you can get your car to handle there, you can have a quicker top speed. Unfortunately, it’s not that way at Le Mans because of the long straights. It’s going to be tough to keep up with the Audis and Peugeots. We’re going to be trying, though. Attrition will definitely play into it as well. That’s one thing I learned is that you need to bring the thing home. That’s half the battle. If we’re able to do that, I think three of us will hopefully be there.

DAGYS: With your background primarily being in open-wheel and your previous sportscar drives at the wheel of an open-cockpit Acura, how do you think you’ll adapt to the Lola Coupe?

ANDRETTI: It will be my first time racing a closed-top car. Hopefully, a race car is a race car. It will take a couple of laps to get used to, but hopefully we should be straight on pace. I’ve driven road cars and we can make those go fast too.
Mario Andretti has made numerous starts at Le Mans spanning four decades, his last coming in 2000 at the wheel of a Panoz LMP01. (LAT)

DAGYS: This year’s race will have quite a few famous family names returning to La Sarthe. Nigel Mansell and his two sons are competing in a Ginetta-Zytek, while you’re teamed with Nicolas Prost, son of four-time Formula One champion Alain. How does it feel to be in such good company?

ANDRETTI: I think it’s great for Le Mans to see so many famous names returning. There’s already been a mutual respect between myself and Nicolas. We’re kind of in each other’s shoes. It’s a good feeling because we each want to do our family’s proud.

DAGYS: Forget about May being a busy month of racing for you, as your month of June features Le Mans, book-ended with IndyCar races at Texas and Iowa. Do you feel that might be a challenge mentally adapting to different cars each week?

ANDRETTI: After the Texas race, I’m going to be right out of the car and onto a plane! But that’s fine for me. I’ll be in a car every day if they let me. Jumping from one car to the other won’t be a big challenge. If I went from a road course to a road course, it would take a lap or two to get back into the swing of things. But with it being an oval race the week before Le Mans, I think it should be alright.

DAGYS: There’s always been rumors of an all-Andretti lineup returning to Le Mans, or even the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with yourself, father Michael and grandfather Mario sharing the same car. Has there been any progress on that, and could it be a possibility for the future?

ANDRETTI: It’s something we’ve all talked about. I think me and my grandfather have thought about it in particular. He’d be 97 years old and I’d dump him out of the wheelchair into the cockpit and he’d drive it! We always make jokes like that, but he’s serious. I think it’d be really fun because we’d each push each other and have a good result.
Rebellion Racing steps up to a two-car Lola LMP1 effort in the European-based Le Mans Series and Le Mans for 2010. (Lola)

But the reality of it is that there's so many contracts nowadays. Obviously we have to stay faithful to Honda and our other partners in IndyCar. Luckily I was able to get this ride, so hopefully we’ll be able to make more stuff like this happen in the future. But I know my grandfather would be ready to go for that. My dad would be tougher to get than my grandfather. But if we get an offer with a good ride and put that in front of both of them, it would be tough to turn down.

DAGYS: With the demise of A1GP, a series that Andretti Autosport and yourself were a part last winter, do you feel you may consider picking up more additional racing opportunities in the future to stay busy during the IndyCar off-season?

ANDRETTI: It’s been too long of an off-season for me. You can only run on a treadmill and drive go-karts so much. It was a longer winter for me, and I’d love to drive any kind of car possible. NASCAR would be almost like starting over, having to learn how to drive those things. But I commend Danica for doing it.

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