Dillmann Feels Pressure Relieved After Last Year’s LMP2 Win

Tom Dillmann says he feels “more free” and “less desperate” after having won the LMP2 class in last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as his Inter Europol Competition team seeks a third victory in four years.

The Frenchman is reuniting with Kuba Smiechowski and Nick Yelloly after prevailing in last year’s race, which followed Smiechowski’s success with Fabio Scherer and Albert Costa in 2023.

Dillmann is optimistic of another strong showing this time around and feels that having already achieved glory at Le Mans removes a weight from his shoulders.

“Coming here as a winner, I feel a bit more free because it’s a race you want to win once in your career,” he told Sportscar365.

“Every year you don’t win it, it’s one chance less so, having won it already, I feel more free but with a lot of determination to win it once again.

“You become less desperate to win it and have less pressure to go and win it once you’ve done it once and you can enjoy it even more.”

Smiechowski was more cautious when describing the impact of the past wins, but added: “I think it makes a little bit of a difference but I don’t think it’s a key factor in achieving success or not.

“It takes a little bit of the edge off and I believe, towards the end of the race, you can feel a bit calmer and you know what you need to do to get to the finish line.”

Nevertheless, all three drivers are optimistic about their chances of a repeat victory, particularly Dillmann.

“At the same time last year, I said we are the favorites and it was not a mistake,” he said, when asked about race prospects.

“I still think we are [favorites], the sister car will be as well and a few other cars but, with what the team has shown in the last three years here clearly we know we should have the car and we have a good lineup as well so we don’t need to hide — I think we are amongst the favorites clearly.”

Smiechowski added that he is “very proud” of how the squad has now established itself as a regular frontrunner in the class.

When asked if he would be disappointed if Inter Europol is not in contention for another victory, he said: “I wouldn’t say disappointment, but for sure I want to be fighting for the top step otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense to come here from where we established ourselves in the past few years.”

However, Yelloly cautioned that the LMP2 field is “even more” competitive than last year with a host of big name additions, such as factory Porsche racers Kevin Estre, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich.

“The competition is completely stacked this year if you look at the grid,” Yelloly told Sportscar365.

“Just looking at the lineups, there’s a lot of guys that aren’t in a Hypercar this year that are in a P2, so there’s some really good guys there and I’m looking forward to the fight, it should be good.”

Last year’s event marked Yelloly’s Le Mans debut and he therefore feels better prepared going into this week’s edition.

“I think just knowing how to go about the whole week and the race will be better from my side personally,” he said. “The team has obviously done great here and we’re more in-tune.”

John Dagys contributed to this report