Callum Ilott “felt very bad” after wrecking Porsche car, still pushing for “a win”

Callum Ilott, Will Stevens and Norman Nato will start the 2024 24h of Le Mans race from eighth despite missing out on Hyperpole.

The #12 car qualified for the Hyperpole shootout, however, damage to the car from Ilott’s crash in Free Practice 2 meant they couldn’t get it repaired in time.

As a result, the #12 car missed out on track action throughout Thursday’s two practice sessions and Hyperpole.

“That’s a big workload for the team”, said Ilott about the damage. “It’s probably the first time that I’ve put myself at risk in an endurance environment and I felt very bad for that.

“But once we knew the car was going to be put back together with the team working so hard, it’s okay. Now it’s about resetting and getting going again.”

In terms of the damage and what needed to be replaced, Ilott admitted the monocoque was completely wrecked.

Ilott added: “The monocoque had to be replaced and we’ve fit everything that we have run previously, so there should not really be any issues.

“We will start P8, it’s a good starting position for a long race. Obviously, if that crash was going to happen, that was the better day to do it.”

Despite the crash on Wednesday, Ilott is not losing hope of achieving a big result at Le Mans.

In fact, the former F2 driver is hopeful of winning the showpiece event.

“We know we’ve got a good setup”, underlined Ilott. “Everything we’re putting on the car, except for the front right, has been run and we know everything works on that side.

“The mechanics were in great spirits yesterday, they were even enjoying it. The one thing they want out of all this is a win, so we’ll go and push for that.”