Goodyear deep dive: 2023 Wingfoot Award winner Filipe Albuquerque on what it takes to win at Le Mans

The recipient of the inaugural Goodyear Wingfoot Award says the trophy recognises what it takes to be a competitive endurance racing driver

The art of what makes a great endurance racer is often something the headlines ignore. While being quick over one lap remains an essential tool in a driver’s repertoire, only the consistency of a team of drivers, engineers and mechanics can win races, which Goodyear highlights at each FIA World Endurance Championship round with its Wingfoot Award.

Goodyear had the pleasure to sit down with Filipe Albuquerque, 2023 Wingfoot Award champion and Le Mans class winner in 2020. The United Autosports driver was in great form ahead of the highest profile race of the season.

“It’s so true what they say: You don’t choose Le Mans, Le Mans chooses you,” beams Albuquerque, explaining the ups and downs of his time at the historic circuit over the years. 

“So many things can happen at Le Mans. If you lose a lap, there’s no way you’re making that back when we’re all fighting for two tenths of a second per lap among professional drivers. Those things have changed over the years, when before the difference between the winner and second place could be five or six laps.

“Everyone needs to be on their A-game to win these days.”

Goodyear Wingfoot Award shifts focus to consistent performance

Goodyear introduced the Wingfoot Award in 2023 to put a spotlight on the drivers demonstrating unwavering performance and consistency across a full stint length. At Le Mans, the award is calculated across the best triple stint for each LMP2 driver, and double stint for LMGT3 racers. Only green flag laps are calculated, so Full Course Yellow, Safety Car and Slow Zones are excluded from the final calculation. In-laps and outlaps are also discarded. 

“It was very good to get a personal award for our performance,” says Albuquerque of his full season Wingfoot Award triumph. “Endurance racing is a collective sport and in all forms of motorsport it’s not possible to win alone, and you don’t lose alone either, it’s a team effort. The nature of the sport is to divide duties between teammates so everyone has their own share of the accomplishments.

“The way the Wingfoot Award is calculated makes a lot of sense. It means it’s not just the fastest five laps or laps with low fuel that could make any driver look like the fastest. I said to Goodyear when it was unveiled, ‘thanks for developing a fair way to evaluate drivers over the course of multiple stints.’

“[The Award] has not changed the way I see racing or how I approach a weekend, but in time it could change how the young drivers who are new to endurance racing approach competition. It’s educating people who lack experience to become professional endurance drivers, instead of aiming for single lap glory without working on consistency. 

“In many forms of motorsport, a lot of emphasis is placed on if you did the fastest lap time of the race. For those guys it will change the approach because it’s the three stint average at Le Mans,” Albuquerque explains.

“It separates the drivers who are very good, but are perhaps inconsistent with track limits for example, which often leads to other issues with vibrations and car reliability.”

The “most competitive” Le Mans

With the 24 Hours of Le Mans approaching, conversation quickly turned to the on-track prospects. Albuquerque eloquently explains the connection between drivers, team and tire manufacturer.

“We will try different things with the cars to find the limits. It’s been easier for the smaller teams to find the limits with the support of Goodyear, which is great when they don’t necessarily have the most resources.

“We take for granted the consistency of the tires and how none of the teams feel the need to complain because the tire platform is the same for everybody. It’s very difficult for a manufacturer to do, but Goodyear has achieved that. It’s the tires that are enabling that consistency look amazing and it’s an underappreciated aspect of going racing with Goodyear.

“Also, hats off to Goodyear for making the tires perform superbly without the blankets on cold tires. It’s a new thing, particularly in Europe, to drive with cold tires out the pits and it’s easy to manage without sacrificing the performance of the tire. That is super hard.

“We’re driving at around 60% of the limit for a lap, and then the tire comes to us. the grip level is lower than the optimum performance, but manageble. What’s more, this is doable for all the bronze drivers too, which is so impressive.”

With Le Mans around the corner, nobody can predict how the race will pan out, only that the unwavering consistency of the best endurance racing teams and drivers will prevail. Albuquerque puts it best: “[Le Mans] is ever changing and it’s beautiful, but if you’re prepared the track comes towards you.”