Munich. BMW works driver Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) attracted
global attention with his start at the 24 Hours of Daytona (USA) in
the
BMW M8 GTE. The Italian was the focus of reporting all over
the world and was the fans’ favourite at Daytona. Run by BMW Team
RLL, the #24 BMW M8 GTE that Zanardi shared with John Edwards (USA),
Jesse Krohn (FIN) and Chaz Mostert (AUS), had been modified with a
special hand-operated braking system by BMW M Motorsport. After
several minor set-backs in the race, the quartet came home ninth in
the GTLM class. Victory went to the sister car, the #25 BMW M8 GTE,
with Connor De Phillippi (USA), Augusto Farfus (BRA), Philipp Eng
(AUT) and Colton Herta (USA) at the wheel. In an interview, Zanardi
looks back at the “24 Hours of Daytona” project.
Alessandro, the big adventure is over. What was your highlight
of the 24-hour race at Daytona?
Alessandro Zanardi: “It’s difficult to pin-point one thing. The
highlight is what I’m bringing home – the impressions of this entire
project – from the participation of every member of the team who made
me feel really wanted in this adventure and from all the dedication
and hard work that was displayed by all the engineers in Munich. It
was fantastic to go through this adventure with all these people who
are real friends. Of course, when it was announced that I would team
up with one of the two works cars all my pride came second to the
sense of responsibility for what I had to do. But having said that
it’s been simply fantastic all the way. And on top of everything there
was the support that I received from all the American people, fans,
IMSA, even competitors down the pit lane – everybody just felt so
happy to have me around. Of course, that is something which goes well
above the sporting result we were aiming for, which unfortunately
didn’t come – but that is motorsport.”
Even if, for your car, you did not get the result you had
hoped for, you have a big smile on your face because your team BMW
Team RLL got it: the long awaited victory at the 24 hours. How happy
are you with that?
Zanardi: “Extremely happy. I’m extremely happy for the entire team.
And because I am a little part of the team, a little bit of that
victory is also mine and I’m bringing this back to Italy with me. I’m
very proud for BMW. I’m very proud of all the hard work and dedication
which is behind this effort. And I’m terribly sorry for the same
people who worked so hard and with so much passion in preparing my
car, my controls and everything because then we had the problems we
had which is very unfortunate but as I just said: it’s motor racing.”
What was the biggest challenge in this project?
Zanardi: “To stay out of trouble is the name of the game at a 24-hour
race. But in this situation, with these tricky conditions, you know I
felt I was more vulnerable than everybody else in the field that is
more experienced than I am. That goes on top of my personal problem,
but I managed not to make mistakes, to drive to a decent level and I’m
proud of that.”
Has there been something in this entire project that surprised you?
Zanardi: “Probably the very first time I went to Munich after we had
our meeting where we had discussed everything and I sat in the car and
everything was just right! In one way it is called technology – the
fact that they have ways to design and to do things which long time
ago would have taken much longer. But it also takes curiosity; it
takes passion and dedication. That’s what characterises all the people
at BMW M Motorsport. It’s hard to buy that.”
Let’s look ahead: what’s coming up for you now after this project?
Zanardi: “Well, it’s time to go back to my training because my
muscles are suffering from the lack of exercise. I have a Paralympic
campaign to prepare for but this was the perfect time for me to take a
break from para-cycling and to fill my heart with new enthusiasm. I
will use the time now to regain my top condition and hopefully have a
good season in order to collect the points it takes to go to the
Paralympic games in Tokyo.”