Mies Looking to Embrace Experience of Le Mans Debut

Christopher Mies feels “super honoured” to have been picked to form part of the lineup for Proton Competition’s third LMGT3 entry at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as it has given him the chance to make his debut in the French endurance classic.

The German racer will share the No. 44 Ford Mustang GT3 with Bronze-rated John Hartsthorne and his European Le Mans Series co-driver Ben Tuck for the event.

Despite his wealth of experience in GT3 racing elsewhere, including three Nürburgring 24 wins, two victories in the Bathurst 12 Hour and a GTD class win at Motul Petit Le Mans, Mies has never competed at the Circuit de La Sarthe.

Now, having joined the Ford Performance factory roster after many successful years with Audi, he is set to make his debut in what he described as the ‘pinnacle race’ in sports car racing.

“I’m super honored,” Mies told Sportscar365.

“They didn’t have to choose me. I have no experience; it will be my first Le Mans ever.

“They for sure have other guys in the driver roster which have a lot more experience there. I think that’s a privilege for me that they’ve chosen me to do that race.

“I’m very happy, very glad about it, very thankful. And to be honest, I just want to experience the whole event.

“Of course I want to win. I want to be on the podium. But in the end, if it’s P5 or P8, I’m not upset.

“Because I just want to have the experience and be there and drive there during the night. It’s such a cool experience.”

Mies added that he’s careful not to put the weight of expectations of his own shoulders, noting that the opportunity of getting to do the race is an important enough factor on his own.

“I think our car is reliable, which is really, really good,” he said.

“But for me, I’m not driving the full championship. So for me, it’s all about getting the experience there.

“Obviously, as a driver, you always want to win. There’s no question about it. But if it doesn’t work for whatever reason, I’m not upset.

“I just want to have the experience. I want to do the best job possible. I’m preparing in the sim.

“We do a lot of sim work beside the real racing world as well. I just want to get there and do that race.”

He noted that he had hoped to get to the event at an earlier stage in his career, but that he considered it ‘100 percent’ logical that he was passed up in favor of drivers that had done the race before.

“I understood that there are a lot of drivers with a lot of experience there who also don’t have the drive maybe that year,” Mies said.

“And then obviously, they get to choose first. It’s a 100 percent logical. Obviously, back then, LMP1 was LMP1. We had LMP2, but I had no LMP2 experience.

“And then there were GTE and it was most likely always the factory drivers in there. So it fully made sense for me that I’m not there.

“I was hoping to get there somehow. But I also didn’t want to pay for a seat for a race.”

With Ford returning to Le Mans with the Mustang GT3, Mies knew that the opportunity to make his debut was growing, but even then admitted to being surprised when he was selected to partner up with Hartsthorne and Tuck aboard the No. 44 car.

“I knew that the chance will be there, maybe not this year, but maybe in the following years,” he said.

“Then when the third car got announced, I was just in contact with Ford. I only said one time, ‘Look, I’m available, I really would like to do it.’

“But I also said, of course, I understand if you take Dirk [Mueller] or Rocky [Mike Rockenfeller] or if they even go with like a proper Pro-Am lineup with two paid drivers and a Bronze or whatever.

“So no, I wasn’t expecting that.”