24 H. Daytona – ITW Felipe Nasr : "The best gift we could give ourselves"

Could you talk about the emotions during this last stint?

Well, all I can say is the race only finishes at the checkered flag, there's no decision until then. The race really came down to the wire at the very final stop. It was pretty much all about the fuel numbers. Each one was the energy numbers we were reaching.

I just have to say that was a great call from the team, from Porsche Penske Motorsports, just to give me the opportunity to be in the lead again in that final part of the race, and then it was down to me to hit the numbers and keep the 31 behind.

Did you expect such a final stint ?

24 hours of racing, to be going that way, it does give you a lot of emotions in the end. I just knew it was not over yet. I just kept the focus until the finish line. There was a lot of traffic going through, as well, when the 31 was keeping up the pressure.

Can we talk about relief?

I'm glad it came our way. After all the hard work, the difficult year we had in 2023, especially here, I feel this is the best gift we could give ourselves. Very pleased for the team, for the whole work they've done all week.

What did you know it was the checkers instead of the white, and it also appeared you might not have slowed up once you did take the checkers as if you were maybe not 100 percent sure?

Yeah, you've got to keep on the throttle until it's over. That's what Tim Cindric said on the radio. I was confused, too. I don't know if there was two white flags. I don't know. I really don't know. I was just focused on each corner, each braking and just clearing traffic and making sure there was no mistakes and taking the car to the end.

I think at the start finish, the team just said, I think now it's the final lap. That's when I knew... I think for the second time it was the final lap. But there was a high level of support that took us to the finish line today.

Tell us a few words about this team...

Yeah, happy we did it. Just so proud to be here with these guys. J.D. (Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport general manager), as well. A tremendous effort from everybody in the team everybody mentioned here, but it's really a team effort. It takes every single person to believe, to really not give up on the day-to-day basis, and I feel like today is a big achievement for Porsche, for Penske and all drivers here, and I teal very honored to be sharing the car with them, and hopefully there will be some more. That's the plan. We don't stop here.