Belfast driver Charlie Eastwood says it was a dream come true to win at Le Mans in just his third year in endurance racing.
On Sunday, Eastwood led the TF Sport team Aston Martin Vantage AMR to victory in the LMGTE AM class in the world famous race in France, beating the Porsche 911 of the Dempsey Proton Racing team by just 49 seconds.
Eastwood took the wheel for 10.5 of the 24 hours, including overnight stints, both starting off and taking the chequered flag.
He is the first Irish driver to stand on the Le Mans podium since Cork man Matt Griffin in 2013.
"It was my third time going to Le Mans and the first two years I didn't have the luck you need to get a result," the 25-year-old told RTÉ Sport's John Kenny.
"This year just went pretty perfectly from start to finish and to cross the line was such a good feeling. All the team going crazy on the pit-wall, it was great.
"The two and a half hour stint before the finish wasn’t so good, trying to manage the gap to second place but also trying to look after the car.
"But what a result. For every GT driver, you think about winning Le Mans, so to do so in the space of two and a half years endurance racing is an amazing feeling."
YES! YES! YES! No.90 @OfficialTFSport crew belonging to @ceastwood28, @JonnyAdam and @SYoluc took the victory in GTE AM with their Aston Martin Vantage AMR. 🏆🏆🏆 #WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/o8xBRsFbUn
— WEC (@FIAWEC) September 20, 2020
The highly competitive LMGTE Am category features cars which must be one year older than those competing in the LMGTE Pro class and a mixed team of professional and amateur drivers.
Eastwood, who was Motorsport Ireland's Young Racing Driver of the year in 2018, and Jonny Adam of Britain are the Aston Martin factory drivers while Salim Yoluc of Turkey is their amateur.
"We use the same car as the GTE pro guys do but they get the car one year earlier," Eastwood explained.
"This year GT AM was the biggest grid in the race, with 22 cars in the class.
"That was always something we had to be wary of. Straight from qualifying our big thing was to try and get into the top six and hyperpole (second qualifying for fastest cars).
"Really to try and stay out of trouble; at Le Mans there are a lot of safety cars and they work slightly differently as there are three around the track.
"If at any time you lose the front of the pack you can end up losing half a lap so fast.
"We knew we needed to try and get good momentum from the start. I started the race for a two-hour stint and got into second, then we just chipped away from that point."
Le Mans wasn't the final round of the World Endurance Championship, Aston Martin now take an eight-point lead over #83 Ferrari into the next round, in Bahrain.
If the championship is cancelled though, Aston Martin will be declared the winners as six rounds have been completed.
That's Eastwood's main ambition at the moment, but a move up to the Pro class or a world kart championship are also in his sights.
