Yifei Ye Column: ''A lot to learn in a very short amount of time''

Hi everyone,

A lot has happened since my post-Sebring interview, but I finally found the time to write this first column. A short trip to Multimatic in Detroit, to get used to this Porsche 963 via the simulator, the Formula E Rookie Test in Berlin and finally the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where I became the youngest Hypercar driver to date.

What can I tell you? That I'm super happy, that's all. If someone had told us that we would finish our first Hypercar race in sixth place, even though the car had only been on the track for the first time two days before, we wouldn't have believed it. It's pretty crazy when you think about it. Our car, when it arrived at the circuit, only had a brief shakedown by Matt Campbell at Weissach the week before.

This year, the battle is extremely tight in the top class, with 13 cars in Belgium. Aiming for the top-10 was therefore a realistic goal, especially as we didn't consider this week as a race week, but more as a test session. Will (Stevens) and I discovered the car on Thursday during the first two free practice sessions and Antonio (Félix da Costa) the following day. In the end, we fought with the best in the class and managed to take the chequered flag in sixth place. That's a good sign, isn't it?

The timing was super tight and we all had a lot to learn in a very short amount of time. Two days in fact... The Free Practice sessions were disrupted by red flags and Full Course Yellow, so we didn't do so many laps before the start (29 for Stevens, 21 for Ye and 19 for Félix da Costa). But that didn't stop me from setting the fastest race lap time of all Porsche 963s. Overall, we had a race without any major problems, even if I had a small sensor issue which forced me to manipulate the steering wheel for a few laps. It was not easy, but it was also good training.

Sixth and without a scratch on the bodywork! I would like to say a big thank you to the team (Hertz Team JOTA), who had to learn and prepare the car very carefully during the days before the race. I would also like to thank Porsche for their help and Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific for their unwavering support.

All the information we have gathered and the information we recorded during our two-day test at Paul Ricard with Porsche Penske Motorsport last week will be used to prepare for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Our ultimate goal is to win Le Mans. We have shown that we have potential and I am confident that we will be able to go into the race with a competitive car.

I'm really looking forward to getting back on track. This Porsche 963 is really cool to drive, with lots of power. We don't have much time left before Le Mans and we will also have to make sure we get enough rest because the mechanics have had very short nights recently. So we will all have to recover in order to arrive at Le Mans in good shape. But I promise to take the time to tell you all about it in detail...

See you soon!