Fassler: Corvette Le Mans win would equal Audi victories
Marcel Fassler says winning this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours GTE title would carry the same weight as his three overall victories in the French classic.
Marcel Fassler, Corvette Racing
Rainier Ehrhardt
Following the withdrawal of Fassler’s long-time employer Audi from top-level sportscar racing last year, the Swiss driver has rejoined the Corvette Racing squad for what is set to be his 12th La Sarthe start.
He previously raced a Corvette in the now-defunct GT1 class in 2009 alongside Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta before joining Audi’s LMP1 stable the following year, and went on to take outright wins in 2011, ’12 and ’14 with Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer.
But Fassler feels a class victory this year, with five works teams all entered in the GTE Pro division, would be an achievement to equal his LMP1 wins.
“Winning overall here at Le Mans is something special,” the 41-year-old said. “But to be in this kind of battle in the GT class, if you win it, it definitely doesn’t mean less than an overall win because the competition is really high.
“Always when you look in the past, GT cars are all so close together, always at least two or three cars fighting for the whole [distance].
“So I think, as a driver, the satisfaction is at least the same as going for an overall win.”
Fassler explained the offer to rejoin Corvette for Le Mans came back in January, and that he had always expected to go back to GTs once his LMP1 career came to a close.
“I always was driving GTs next to the Audis, and I came from GT to LMP1 beforehand,” said Fassler. “I always said to myself, when I stop LMP1, GT would be my next step.
“Something [else] I would really love to do would be DPi in the States, if there is any chance to go over there, for sure I would not say no.”
Asked by Motorsport.com if he could be part of a rumoured Joest DPi project in future, the Swiss driver replied: “I don’t know what Joest will do, we haven’t spoken about it. But I would love to do more in America.”
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