Former Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica won the LMP2 title in the 2023 World Endurance Championship (WEC). After the drama at Le Mans, it was an important milestone for the Pole.
Robert Kubica has won the LMP2 title of the 2023 World Endurance Championship (WEC) together with his teammates Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade. After the dramatic defeat at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2021, the overall victory put a “smile” on the WRT driver’s lips again.
The WRT trio Kubica, Deletraz and Andrade were crowned the WEC’s final LMP2 champions by winning the finale in Bahrain on Saturday, beating Inter-Europol drivers Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer and Jakub Smiechowski. 59 points ultimately made the difference in the final score.
According to Kubica, his WEC title success was good compensation for his narrow failure at Le Mans 2021, when a throttle sensor failure on the final lap denied him and WRT victory on his first visit to the Sarthe.
Kubica still has Le Mans on his mind
Since then, the Pole has taken two second places in the French endurance classic, but a victory has eluded him.
“To be honest, I haven’t won many championships in my life,” Kubica told Motorsport.com. “Yes, a few, but every season, every championship is different. This one feels special.” The former Formula 1 driver still mourns the victory in Le Mans today: “Finishing in second place for the second year in a row and losing the victory in the last lap in 2021 was a real shame.”
“But still, this World Cup brings back a smile. I think we couldn’t have done better,” said the 38-year-old. The #41 WRT crew was so consistent that it finished on the podium in all but one race of the year, and its first place finish at the Bahrain 8 Hours was its third win in seven events.
Kubica praises WRT for a strong season and says his title win shows he can be competitive in endurance racing.
Kubica: Still in top shape at 38 years old
After an unsuccessful return to Formula 1 in 2019, the Pole switched to the endurance scene in order to reignite his career with a new spark.
The veteran already won the title in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) in 2021, also with WRT, but his WEC LMP2 overall victory is his first world championship title since he won in 2013. At that time, Kubica won in the WRC2 class the World Rally Championship (WRC) in a Citroen.
“This is of course a great achievement,” he says. “Whenever you start a new chapter, and that was the case for me when I came to endurance racing, first in the ELMS and then in the WEC, the goal is always to perform.”
“I’m 38 years old, but I know I can be competitive,” Kubica continued. “I know what I need to do to perform and this year was proof that, together with my teammates at WRT, we have all the ingredients to perform at the top.”
Kubica praises strong 2023 WRT season
“I think we did a very good job, got six podium places in a row in seven races and delivered very consistently,” continued Kubica. “We had better days and worse days, but we never gave up and that underlines the quality of the work we did.”
Kubica, Deletraz and Andrade managed to complete the race in Bahrain with one fewer pit stop than most of their competitors.
This allowed them to work their way forward after a disappointing qualifying that dropped them to tenth place in the LMP2 class.
The 38-year-old revealed that WRT decided on the strategy early on, so he had to manage his fuel and tire consumption. “I admit that we didn’t have a smooth free practice session, but we turned the tide,” he explains.
Kubica: Strategy made the difference
“When we saw in the race that the car’s handling was as we expected, we knew we could set a good pace,” said the analysis of the race.
“We went into the race with a different strategy than the others. We adjusted to the car and that paid off.”
“To be honest, I was a bit surprised that there weren’t many teams at the start of the race [unsere Strategie] “We used it,” says Kubica. “Jota switched to our strategy, but everyone else kind of ignored it.”
“I’m surprised because in Bahrain it’s always about managing and that was the perfect combination of speed, management and fuel saving,” says Kubica, summing up the WEC final. “So everything worked out and we got another win, third win, second in a row, great.”